Justice League: Back to Basics
by Begger17
Summary: 5 of the original 7 teammates are forced to learn how to solve a crime without the use of their powers. Includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and the Martian Manhunter, with some BMWW romance.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Sometime in the Distant Future**

Mrs. Gordon desperately attempted to corral all of the students in her third grade class as they wreaked havoc on the museum.

"Randy, keep your voice down; we're inside. Billy don't touch that! Clair, stop bothering that man."

To say that she hated the annual field trip to the Metropolis Museum of History is an understatement. That said, being a five year veteran of the trip, she knew exactly what would instantly calm her raucous students.

"C'mon, boys and girls, follow me; this is the best part of the trip." The children's curiosity grew as they momentarily calmed, following their teacher. "Here it is."

The fidgety students immediately silenced as a large shadow engulfed the entire class. The children had to crane their necks back as far as they could in order to see the Herculean effigies of the original seven founding members of the illustrious Justice League. The statues proved to be the mainstay of the museum since their construction seven years ago, after the retirement of the last of the original Leaguers. Tourists from all over the world traveled to Metropolis to see the grandeur of the stone reincarnation of the world's most significant heroes.

Superman, the leader, stood foremost, arms set stoically on his hips. Behind him to the right stood Batman, Hawkgirl, and the Flash. To his left stood Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, and the Green Lantern. At the foot of each Leaguer sat a small red, interactive button. When pressed a prerecorded narrative about the corresponding hero played for all in the exhibit to hear; it spoke of their greatest feats and accomplishments. Naturally, the children pressed every button and sat on the floor listening to the most exciting history lesson they've ever had. Mrs. Gordon spent the time sprawled out on a nearby bench, finally getting to sip her morning coffee whilst listening to seven narratives that she could restate exactly, word for word.

Much to her chagrin, the students returned to her after only six.

"What's wrong, kids?"

Randy stood up, acting as a representative for his fellow classmates.

"Nothing, we're done, we listened to them all."

"No you didn't you forgot to listen to Batman."

"We don't want to." He demonstratively crossed his arms.

"Why not?"

The boy hesitated.

"He's scary."

"Oh Randy, he may be scary on the outside, but what have I taught you about judging a book by its cover?"

"Don't judge anyone by the way they look, because you will never get to know the real person underneath." He restated the lesson as he'd done many times in class.

"Right." She smiled, taking his hand and leading him to Batman's statue. "Batman only acted mean and scary so that his enemies would fear him. And although he may have come across as a cold hearted person, I happen to know that he was actually a very caring man who would do anything for the people close to him, but he would never let anyone know that."

"How do you know that?"

Mrs. Gordon looked up to the statue of the man that her mother had told her so many stories about; she almost felt like she knew him personally.

"Because I'm a teacher, I know everything."

She pressed the button at Batman's feet and sat on the floor with the children, listening to stories she's heard countless times before.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This is my first story, it's not finished but I thought I'd put it up here just to see what others think of it so far. Any constructive criticism on my writing is greatly appreciated.

I do not own any of the characters in the story, but the plot is all mine! ; )

**Justice League**

**Back to Basics**

**Chapter 1**

**Wayne Manor, January 4, 7:01 p.m.**

Bruce led Diana through the, what seemed like, endless hallways of his mansion.

"The room you'll be staying in is just at the end of this hall. Alfred's preparing it for your stay."

They finally reached the end of the hall as Bruce pushed the door open and invited Diana in to her temporary home. Their arrival startled Alfred, who was in the midst of making the queen sized bed.

"Ah, Master Wayne, I was under the impression that you wouldn't be arriving until later."

"Well it turned out that Luthor didn't bring his 'A' game today, we took him down pretty hard." He turned and exchanged smiles with Diana.

"Very well." He turned his attention towards their guest. "Princess Diana, I am thrilled that you will be staying with us these next few weeks; you're our first guest in years. I hope the accommodations are acceptable."

Diana laughed.

"They're more than fine, Alfred. Thank you." She leaned in and hugged him, causing him to blush.

"Ah, very well." He nodded gratefully and quickly exited the room.

"I think you nearly gave Alfred a heart attack."

"I guess I can have that affect on some men."

"At least you're humble." He joked, sarcastically.

Diana looked around the large room, giving herself a tour.

"Bruce, this room…it's amazing. It's easily double the size of my apartment back home."

"It was originally built as the master bedroom, but when my parents renovated they relocated their bedroom to the eastern wing of the house.-better view." They laughed. "I'm just glad somebody's making use of it."

Diana investigated the Jacuzzi bathtub in the tiled bathroom and the giant fireplace opposite the bed.

"A girl can get used to a place like this real quick." She let herself fall onto the chocolate, micro fiber sofa. "But don't worry, I should be out of your hair in a few weeks; who knew that mold could grow underneath the sink?"

Bruce shook his head.

"Diana, you can stay here as long as you want. There's more than enough room and, as you found out, Alfred enjoys having a female presence in the house."

Diana smiled appreciably and met Bruce in the doorway.

"Thank you, Bruce, this really means a lot." Placing a hand on his chest she leaned in and gently kissed him on the cheek.

Bruce stood still, losing himself in her ice blue eyes for just a microsecond before snapping himself back to reality.

He cleared his throat.

"I'll let you get settled. If you need anything just holler, Alfred or I will be happy to help you."

"Sounds good." She said as he began to make his way out. "Oh, Bruce?"

"Yes?"

"How do I get to the staircase from here?" She joked.

"There's a directory down the hall, we'll send a search team if you're gone too long." He countered her sarcasm as he exited the room, closing the door behind him.

Diana stood in the middle of the room, smiling. It may have only been for a moment, but she had definitely caught Bruce's subtle reaction after her kiss, and she couldn't help but be pleased.

**Chapter 2**

**Metropolis Police Station, 7:15p.m.**

"Captain!" A young officer barged into Captain Patrick O'Neill's office.

"You ever here of knocking?" He barked, quickly trying to put out the cigar he had been smoking.

"Oh, c'mon, Cap, you know the rules." He pointed at the sign on the wall to O'Neill's right. It read 'NO SMOKING' in big red letters.

"Son, I've known the rules since you were in diapers, so do me a favor and don't ever tell me 'the rules' again. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now what's so important that you basically need to knock my door off the hinges?"

The young officer thought for a moment, losing his train of thought.

"Oh, right. Deadshot and Firefly have a bank held up on 31st street. They've taken hostages, our first report says that there are sixteen of them. Also, three members of the Justice League are on site."

"I want all available units at that bank twenty minutes ago." He yelled, getting up and grabbing his coat.

"Sir, is that necessary? Superman, Fla-"

Captain O'Neill shot the officer a mean glare at the questioning of his authority.

"Always prepare for the unexpected, Johnson. You never know what'll happen out on the battlefield."

Neither O'Neill nor Johnson had realized the importance of his decision yet.

Superman stood one hundred feet away from the bank yelling through a megaphone that he borrowed from the police.

"Deadshot, Firefly, we've done this dance before and it doesn't end well for you. Release the hostages and turn yourselves in. This is your last warning."

"You really think their going to listen, Supes?"

"Well Flash, I was just hoping that they had gotten a little smarter since our last encounter."

"That's highly doubtful."

Superman smiled.

Inside the bank, Firefly shot Deadshot a look as they took cover behind the front counter of the First National Bank of Metropolis.

"It's three against two, what do we do?"

"What we always do…go down shooting." He reloaded his firearm.

Firefly dropped his chin to his chest. _How do I always get roped into this?_ He asked himself.

They both grabbed a nearby hostage, using them as shields, and braced for the ensuing battle.

"I think they've made their decision." J'onn J'onzz stated, reading the minds of the people inside the bank. "Can you scan the building for the hostages?"

"Way ahead of you, J'onn." Superman used his x-ray vision to peak through the walls of the bank. "There are sixteen hostages, two of them are being used as shields, the others are in a room on the second floor."

"So what's the plan?" J'onn asked.

"Flash, when I tell you, run in there and rescue all the hostages; the two that are being held by Deadshot and Firefly themselves are top priority. Once you've brought them all safely to the police J'onn and I will go in and take care of the clowns."

"I usually enjoy a bit more action, but I'll take one for the team. I'll have them out in a jiff."

"When you're ready."

Flash grabbed his ankle, pulling his leg behind his back..

"What are you doing?" J'onn asked.

"Stretching the quads. I can't go in there cold."

"Flash!." Superman scowled.

"Alright, alright, but if I pull a hammie it's on your head."

He picked up his leg and took off towards the bank. Seconds later the doors flung back open and revealed him carrying two civilians, a woman and a small child. He left them with the police.

"Give me less than a minute, I'll have-"

An explosion went off, leaving the top floor of the bank engulfed in flames.

"Looks like we'll have to jump in prematurely." J'onn said to Superman.

He nodded as they flew into the building.

Superman smashed through the bank's wall sending the two criminals running for cover.

"You go after Firefly." Superman yelled back to J'onn. "I'll take Deadshot."

Firefly wielded dual flamethrowers while Deadshot carried two customized shooters built into his suits forearms. They both opened fire towards their enemy.

Flash did his best to elude the crossfire as he ran back and forth between the bank and the police set up outside, rescuing another two hostages every turn.

Superman and J'onn did their best to attract the incoming fire, keeping Flash and the hostages out of harms way. J'onn drew the fire from Firefly before phasing to his transparent state and letting the flames travel through him, burning the wall behind. Superman took a similar approach flying around the bank at speeds that Deadshot couldn't keep up with, as he missed, hitting the wall with every shot.

The loud commotion from the bank drew a crowd of hundreds of curious onlookers. The police did their best to keep them beyond a safe perimeter. Among those officers was Sergeant Johnson, who had yet again been relegated to crowd patrol. Johnson hated despised being forced to hold back a group of nosy civilians. In his opinion he should be inside that bank, along with his fellow officers, facing off against the criminals. Why else did he join the academy, he thought. Surely not to be put on crowd control during every crisis. The Justice League doesn't allow for police officers to do their job anymore, it really is a shame, he thought as he pushed a rowdy onlooker behind the yellow police tape.

As Sergeant Johnson steamed in self pity, an abundance of 'awes' emerged from the crowd as the civilians began gazing and pointing upwards towards the sky. Johnson looked up and noticed what all the fuss was about. There was a strange red light shining brightly in the dark night sky. The light grew larger and larger with every passing second until, finally, it was close enough identify.

"Missile!" A man screamed from the back of the crowd.

Chaos ensued as people ran in every direction trying to escape the missile. Others attempted to hold their ground and keep an eye on the small warhead.

"Hold on! Wait a second!" A woman tried gaining everyone's attention. By reading the missiles trajectory she could tell that the missile was easily going to fly straight overhead, missing them completely. "It's going to miss us! We're safe!" She yelled.

The crowd erupted and watched as the missile tore through the air and continued on straight through Metropolis, leaving nothing but a musky green gas behind.

Back inside the bank, Superman had just dodged Deadshot's last two bullets before needing to reload as J'onn allowed Firefly's flamethrowers to overheat due to their continuous use. Both were ready to attack when they heard what sounded like a small plane fly overhead.

"I'll go check it out." Flash said exiting the building. Looking up to the sky, he realized that what he thought to be a plane was actually a large missile.

He sped up trying to catch the missile before meeting its intended target, wherever that may be. The rush hour traffic slowed him down slightly, as his concentration shifted to dodging incoming cars. Keeping one eye on the missile, he noticed that it was approaching a large plateau which might be high enough for him to reach up and quickly dismantle the missile. He sped up and approached the plateau.

Meanwhile, Deadshot and Firefly were all but caught as Superman and J'onn had them cornered in the back of the building. Suddenly, a strange gas entered the building through the open windows and wall's new bullet holes, courtesy of Deadshot. J'onn noticed as the green gas slowly sifted in, filling up the entire building in seconds.

"What's-" J'onn inhaled the gas. His legs weakened as he dropped to his knees, unable to escape.

"J'onn!" Superman yelled rushing over to help his fallen teammate before he too succumbed to the gas and fell to the floor.

Deadshot and Firefly exchanged confused glances as they tried to comprehend what had just went down. The mysterious gas had not seemed to affect the two of them but had severely injured the others. Deadshot stood up and approached his two fallen enemies. Reloading his shooter with custom made rounds, lined with Kryptonite, he stood directly above the unresponsive Superman.

Flash was within fifty yards of the missile when he noticed a mysterious gas seeping from the sides, leaving a trail of green mist behind the it. Not understanding the affect that the gas would have on him, Flash continued towards the missile, inhaling the gas as he breathed. It didn't take long for it to kick in as his vision instantly began to blur. Second to go were his legs, he could feel them slowing, it felt like he was running in two feet of water. Moments later he was headed face first into the grass, unconscious.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time, Kryptonian." Deadshot aimed directly at the "S" on Superman's chest.

"Freeze! Drop your weapon!"

"Step away from Superman!"

Orders were barked out from every direction as Sergeant Johnson led his unit into the bank, flooding every entryway, guns drawn. Deadshot kept his aim for a moment before reluctantly accepting defeat. Sergeant Johnson and his men subdued the two criminals, cuffing them and throwing them in the police van that was headed for the station.

News vans filled the area as a reporter from every news station fought through the crowd, throwing questions at the Sergeant Johnson while shoving their microphones in his face.

"Sergeant, why did you come here when the Justice League was already on site?" One reporter asked.

"How did you devise your attack so quickly after the Justice League was incapacitated?" Another asked.

"How does it feel to take down two of Metropolis' most notorious villains?"

Sergeant Johnson stuttered, getting cut off every time he tried to answer a question by another reporter's question.

"Okay, okay, let's give the man some room." Captain O'Neill stepped between Johnson and the reporters. "We will be giving a full statement on today's events at the station, you can all meet us there."

**Chapter 3**

**Metropolis, 8:07 p.m.**

Superman was the fist to wake, opening his eyes and noticing Captain O'Neill sitting in the chair beside his bed.

"What happened?" He was still groggy and had a slight headache. "Why am I in the hospital?"

O'Neill rested the newspaper he was reading on the chair next him and stood up to address Superman.

"Honestly….we have no idea. A small missile tore through the city emitting some sort of toxic gas."

"Toxic?"

"Well…sort of."

"What do you mean?" Superman was losing his patience.

"It only affected your kind, you and your teammates." He pointed to the beds next to Superman where Flash and J'onn rested. "They're both fine, according to the doctors it'll take their bodies longer to rid itself of the gas."

"That's odd."

"Well if you think about it, your body has much more mass so it's-"

"Not that, the gas, how it only affected us. We'll have to have Batman run some tests back at the watchtower." He grasped the wall as he stood up, grabbing Flash and J'onn under their arms. "I'll check back with you if we find anything."

He took a tight grasp of his teammates as he jumped and attempted to fly away, but nothing happened. He tried again straining to lift his feet up off the floor. Again their was no result.

"Is there a problem, Superman."

"I can't fly."

**Wayne Manor, 7:22 p.m.**

Bruce was watching an old rerun of one of his favorite childhood show 'The Grey Ghost' on his living room sofa when Alfred entered the room to inform him that dinner was on the table.

"Does Diana know yet?"

"I was just about to call her down, Master Bruce."

Bruce turned the television off.

"I'll get her, go se the table."

"Very well, sir."

"Thanks Alfred."

Bruce walked over to the stairs and leaned on the banister as he called up.

"Diana, Alfred prepared dinner. Aare you coming down?"

No answer. She mustn't have heard him.

He climbed the first tier of stairs and called up again.

"Diana?"

Still no answer. Maybe she's sleeping.

He climbed up a few more steps and called one last time.

"Diana, it would be foolish of you to miss Alfred's risotto. Don't tell him I told you but he puts a dash of-"

A loud scream coming from the upper level of the house echoed down the stairwell, followed by an equally loud thud.

"Diana!" Bruce quickly climbed the stairs, skipping steps, and ran all the way down the long hall to Diana's room.

He kicked the oak door open, knocking it half way off its hinges and rushed into the room.

"Diana are-" He gasped.

A green gas filled the room, entering through the open window by the fireplace. He started to hold his breath but soon realized that the gas had no affect on him. Scanning the floor, he found Diana laying motionless beside the bureau. He rushed over and knelt down beside her.

"Diana, are you okay? Diana!" She was unresponsive. He checked her pulse on her wrist and put his ear to her chest; she was breathing.

"Diana….I'm sorry, I-" He brought her head to his as he spoke until feeling the heat on his fingers.

Holding his hand up in front of him he saw the deep red liquid trickle down his palm. It was blood. He glanced down to the floor and finally noticed the puddle of blood pooling beside her left temple. Gently tilting her head to the side, he found the wide gash on her forehead, just beneath her hairline.

"Master Bruce, I heard you yelling, Is everything okay?" Alfred eyes widened at the sight of Diana laying unconscious on the floor.

"Call Dr. Drury! Tell him it's an emergency." Bruce yelled.

"Right away, sir." Alfred hurried to the phone in the hall.

Pressing himself up against the base of the bed, Bruce eased Diana's head into his lap. He tore his shirt off and balled it up, pressing it to her wound, applying a good amount of pressure to try to stop the bleeding.

Alfred peaked in.

"Sir, Dr. Drury is coming as fast as he can. He should be here in minutes."

Bruce nodded, still cradling her head ever so gently.

**Chapter 4**

**Metropolis, 8:31**

"We what!" Flash asked in disbelief after Superman filled him in on what had happened.

"We lost our powers….they're gone."

"For good, like permanently?"

"We don't know."

"How'd this happen?"

"The last thing I remember was the bank filling up with some sort of gas, the next think I knew I was waking up in a hospital bed just like you."

A groan came from the other side of the room; J'onn was finally waking.

"Apparently this gas is the source of our problem." He said sitting up.

"So how do we reverse it, J'onn."

"It is impossible for me to know. I will have to get in touch with Batman to see if he was able to get any readings or a small sample."

"That's doubtful." Superman said. "That missile zipped through the city in a matter of minutes and I'm guessing that Batman wasn't expecting it."

"Let's call him anyway. If there is someone who _can_ reverse this, we all know that it's Batman."

The others both agreed.

"Where is Bats anyway?"

"He's at his home, helping Diana get settled." Superman said.

"Wait, hold on! She's moving in with him? All right Bats!"

"Not like that, Flash."

"Oh c'mon, it's so obvious."

"She's just staying temporarily. She had some problem at her place and Bruce was nice enough to let her stay with him."

"That sly bat." Flash joked. "What do you think are the chances that he let's me stay there if my place springs a leak?"

"Something tells me that they are not very good." J'onn laughed as he programmed his radio transmitter to channel Batman.

The others did the same.

"Batman, this is J'onn, are you there?"

A few moments passed before they all heard the deep, crackled voice in their ears.

"I'm here, J'onn."

"Batman, Flash, Superman, and I are at St. Vincent's Hospital in Metropolis. We were exposed to-"

"A strange gaseous substance that robbed you of your powers?"

"How did you know?"

"The doctor is examining Diana as we speak."

"Doctor?" Flash chimed in. "We were all exposed and after a little rest we're all fine."

"She was standing when she was intoxicated. When she lost consciousness she fell, hitting her head into the corner of the bureau. She has quite a gash on her head."

"We're coming over now." Superman said. "We'll have to take the bus."

Flash thought for a moment.

"Which bus leads to Gotham?"

"I believe it's the six." J'onn suggested.

"I thought it was the four." Superman contested.

"Wait, where's the nearest bus stop?" Flash asked.

"I don't know, I haven't taken the bus in years."

"I've never taken the bus." J'onn said.

Bruce put his face to his hands in disbelief.

"I'll send a car. Batman out." The line went dead.

Superman, J'onn, and Flash exchanged sheepish looks.

**Wayne Manor, 9:42p.m.**

It was a forty-five minute drive from Metropolis to Gotham. Clark, Wally, and J'onn had all changed into their civilian clothes before being picked up to hide their identities. Unfortunately for J'onn, one of the powers that the gas had also affected was his ability of metamorphosis which allowed him to take the identity of any human he chose. This proved to be a problem but Wally and Clark did their best to keep him concealed behind a large fedora hat and long, brown trench coat.

The black town car arrived at Wayne Manor just as Bruce was thanking the doctor for his time. Clark was the first to notice Bruce's bloody jeans.

"Is that all-"

"Diana's." He finished Clark's sentence. "I tried to stop the bleeding, but the head is known for its large amount of blood flow when cut."

"How is she?" Wally asked.

"She's stable." All three men let out a sigh of relief. "The doctor stitched her head up and put her on some painkillers to ease the throbbing. They knocked her out pretty good, she's been sleeping for a while now."

Clark put a reassuring hand on Bruce's shoulder.

"Bruce, are _you_-"

"I'm fine." He turned and led them into his house, closing the door behind them.

"Bruce, were you able to get nay readings on the gas?" J'onn asked eagerly.

"Not yet, but I have a guy in Paris and another in Brazil who both confirm that they too were exposed to the missile's gas. It swept through their respective countries just after it was through with ours. They'll be sending me any information gathered shortly."

"Good, I would like to take a closer look at this phenomenon."

"Hey guys, with the Javelin decommissioned how are we gonna get back to the watchtower." Wally asked.

"I hadn't thought of that. We'll need to find a place down here where we can meet for the time being, somewhere discreet." Clark thought.

"Don't be stupid, Clark. We can use the Batcave. You three can stay here for the night, we can start the investigation first thing in the morning; it's been a long day for all of us."

"What were those odds you gave me for Bruce letting me stay here?" Wally whispered to J'onn.

"This is different, it's for the good of the mission." He whispered back. "Thank you, Bruce."

"Yea, thanks a lot, Bats."

"Don't mention it. You can make yourselves at home, Alfred will prepare your rooms. If you need-"

"Bruce, go get yourself cleaned up, call it a night. We'll be fine." Clark said.

Bruce accepted the suggestion, turning and heading for the stairs.

Wally watched as he slowly ascended into the upper levels of the mansion.

"Is it me or does he seem grumpier than usual?"

"I've known Bruce for a long time now." Clark started. "Long enough to almost understand what goes on inside his head. He blames himself for Diana's injury."

"That's completely irrational, it was a freak accident. He had no control over it."

"But in his mind he should've been there for her, his greatest failure is letting someone he cares about get hurt."

"And we all know that he cares for Diana...differently than we do, even if he won't admit it." J'onn added.

"This is exactly why he comes across so cold. He doesn't want himself to let anyone get close enough to him to the point where he feels responsible for them. Because if anything happens he rips himself apart. He's cold because he cares too much."

"Man, I would love to fully understand how that brain operates."

"Believe me, Wally, you do not." J'onn said.

"Have you- You read his mind? Have you read mine?"

J'onn deflected the question with a small smirk.

"I'm going to call it a night. I'll see you in the morning."

"I second that, I'm shot." Clark agreed. "Goodnight, everyone."

"I'm gonna stay up for a bit. It's not every day you spend a night in a billionaire's mansion."

"Just be careful, if you break anything not even _I _will be able to save you from Bruce."

**Chapter 5**

**Unknown Location, 10:30 p.m.**

Hundreds of miles away from Gotham, a man, just known as the Prime Minister to his inferiors, was holding a meeting with his top officers to discuss the success of Stage One of his five stage plan.

"Sir," A young man known as Private, Prime Minister's personal assistant, began. "Our man in the field has confirmed that all five present original members of the Justice league were exposed and affected by Dr. Proctor's gas."

A small figure swiveled in his chair, encompassed by darkness.

"What about the other two?"

"Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are currently on their honeymoon. We're jamming their communications with Earth as we speak." He continued. "We also have reports that an additional thirty, less powerful super beings who have been affiliated with the Justice League have also been exposed."

"Excellent. It's all coming together."

**Wayne Manor, January 5, 4:10 a.m.**

Even without his super powers Wally's metabolism was faster than the average man's. His growling stomach woke him up at a little after four in the morning. Not knowing what Alfred keeps stocked in the cupboards, he naturally looked through all of them, eventually deciding on three peanut-butter and banana sandwiches.

A low hum caused Wally to stop short on the way back upstairs. He turned his head to the right; it was coming from the western wing of the building. He decided to investigate. He strolled down the long, dark hallway, tracing the origin of the hum which, as he got closer to, had developed quite a melody.

Every door in the hallway was closed. He was about to turn and go back to bed when he noticed that the last room's door was open just a crack. He wouldn't even have noticed it if it wasn't for a small shred of light shining through the crack and into the hallway. As he approached the humming got louder and clearer, he finally realized that it was a song, he knew it well. It was a romantic song called 'Am I blue'.

He stood behind the door, listening to the lovely tune until it was finally interrupted by a suppressed cough. _Diana?_

"Diana, are you in there?" Wally whispered as he slowly inched the door open and peaked his head in.

Inside, Diana was sitting up in her bed with a book resting on her lap. Her index finger was pressed against her lips as she motioned beside her. Wally glanced over finding Bruce, still in his clothes, sleeping in the chair beside her bed. He was probably planning on leaving before Diana woke, Wally thought, but no even the Dark Knight can win the fight against sleep.

Wally and Diana shared a quiet chuckle as he silently backed out of the room.

"Goodnight, Princess." He whispered.

**Wayne Manor, 9:02 a.m. **

Bruce woke up unusually late as he found himself in the chair next to Diana's bed. _I fell asleep, I must've been here all night._ He glanced over to the bed, Diana had already gotten up for the morning. _I must've been out like a light. _He cursed at himself for being so careless."

"Hey, look who it is." Wally said as Bruce was the last to come down for breakfast. "Good Morning, Sunshine. What happened to 'first thing in the morning'?" The comment earned a vintage glare from Bruce, one that was known as the 'BatGlare' around the watchtower, but got some laughs from the others, including Alfred who rarely got to laugh at Bruce's expense.

"Bats are nocturnal, remember?" He took a seat at the table with the others, rubbing his heavy eyelids.

"Really? Because you were out like someone hit you with a shovel last night."

"What will it be for breakfast this morning, Master Bruce?"

"Eggs, scrambled with a side of Canadian bacon."

"Right away, sir." Alfred turned and searched through the fridge.

"Well I suppose we can start the meeting while Bruce eats." Clark suggested.

Bruce nodded as he chugged a glass of orange juice.

"Yes, there is no time to waste." J'onn agreed.

"So what exactly happened last night?" Diana asked still trying to regain her memory from the night before.

"We don't know yet." Bruce answered.

"All I can remember is one second I was running directly beneath that missile, about to rewire it, and the next I'm waking up in a hospital bed." Wally explained.

"And when we woke we were powerless." J'onn added.

"I don't know if I can get used to this 'normal' thing, I already miss my speed."

"We'll all get our powers back. We just need a lead, something to get us started, to get the ball rolling." Clark reassured.

"We're going to have to take on this mission from a different angle than we ever have." Bruce suggested.

"And how's that?" Diana asked.

"My way. With no powers we can't afford to fly into a fistfight with our usual gunslinger's mentality. We need to go about this with a detective's mentality."

The four others let out a synchronized groan.

"Unfortunately, Bruce is right." Clark said. "We can't bite off more than we can chew on this one. If we make a mistake without our powers it may be our last."

"We'll all have to take different roles to utilize our different strengths." Bruce started. "J'onn, because you can't phase into human form we can't allow you in the field, it's too dangerous, you may blow our cover. You will need to stay here in the Batcave. You're in charge of gathering information from any source out there and relaying it to us."

"Understood." J'onn accepted.

"Clark, you're a reporter. You need to dig into this issue as deep as you can. Interview every person in the city. Treat it like it's the story of a lifetime."

"Can do."

"Wally, you're a scientist. Figure out what that gas was made of and how it works. If we understand how it works we can learn how to reverse its affects."

"You can count on me, Bats."

"What about me?" Diana asked.

"You're an ambassador. Get as many country's opinions and information on the issue as you can. Hopefully one or two will have some helpful information."

"Time out!" Wally interrupted. "You're alter ego is a billionaire, playboy businessman. What are you going to do?"

Bruce looked each of his teammates in the eyes.

"I'm Batman."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 6**

**Police Station, Metropolis, 10:30 a.m. **

It was a busy day at the Metropolis police station, hundreds of petty criminals tried pressing their luck due to the new absence of the Justice League. Sergeant Johnson was one of the few officers still sitting at his desk when Captain O'Neill peaked his head out of his office door.

"Johnson."

The sergeant looked over.

"Yes, Captain."

O'Neill motioned for him to come into his office. Johnson followed his orders, stepping into the small, square room and closing the door behind him.

"Randy, my boy! Take a seat." He motioned to one of the old chairs placed in front of his desk.

Johnson let out a small sigh, whenever O'Neill regarded him as 'Randy, my boy' he followed up by asking a favor, exactly what he'd done a few moths prior.

"What do you need Cap'? You know I'm your guy." Flattery was one of the only ways to work your way up the politically dominated police force.

"Randy, the Daily Planet asked me to do an interview with them this morning-about the mystery surrounding yesterday's events. Unfortunately, I was just called into the commissioner's office to discuss our new strategy, should this issue become permanent."

"So what do you need me for?"

"The interview starts in about twenty minutes, you're the only one in here I can trust to not make a fool out of the unit….and me."

Randy was taken aback.

"I would be honored to, sir. You can count on me, really."

"I know I can, son." He stood up and collected his coat from the rack beside him. "They'll be waiting for you right out front. Rumor is Lois Lane will be doing it." He jabbed Randy in the side, winking.

"Thank you, sir. Have a nice time with the commish'." He turned and went back to his desk, positioning his chair so that he was looking straight through the front window.

**Wayne Manor, 10:52 a.m.**

Wally took it to heart when Bruce told he and the others to 'make themselves at home'. He spent the late morning sprawled out on Bruce's sofa in the living room with empty bags of potato chips scattered around the floor.

"Ugggh…..There is nothing on the tube." He groaned, flipping through every channel on the television multiple times before abruptly stopping on the third loop. _Isn't that… "_Hey Clark! Look at this, your girlfriend's on TV."

Clark and J'onn entered the room.

"Wally, what are you yelling about?"

"Your woman is on the news."

"Correction, Superman's woman." He turned the volume up as he and J'onn forced Wally to make room on the couch.

"Welcome to the local news." She began. "I'm Lois Lane, with the Daily Planet, filling in for Sue Adams." She turned to her guest who was grinning like a child. "Sergeant Johnson, let me start by thanking you for your time, we realize that you must be very busy this past day."

Johnson shyly shrugged it off.

Bruce and Diana joined the others in the living room. Bruce shook his head as he saw the empty bags of chips strewn across the floor.

"What's everyone doing around the television?" Diana asked, resulting in a loud "shh" from the others. She turned her attention to the television.

"I guess I'll get right to the point. How is the police force holding up without the support of the powerful Justice League?"

"Well." He cleared his throat. "Actually, not so bad."

"Please explain." She shoved the microphone in his face.

"That gas, the one believed to be the cause of all this, it didn't just affect the superheroes, it also took away the powers of all super villains. We've just put away some of the most dangerous and powerful criminals in the last twenty four hours, more than the last three weeks combined. Without their powers we're only dealing with regular criminals and we're having no problem apprehending them. Metropolis is safer than ever."

"It seems that they are better off without us." Dina suggested.

"There's no need for superheroes without the threat of super villains." Clark agreed.

"What about when they all need help from the common natural disaster? I bet they'll be wishing they had us then." Wally said, irked.

"Wally's right." Bruce agreed.

"Really?" He was not used to being agreed with by Bruce.

"There will always be a need for heroes. Greed and lust are what fuels the human race, therefore conflict will always play a big part in the world."

"The only progress man has made in the last century is how to better kill each other." Diana added, disgusted by man's world.

"The police can only handle the newly powerless super villains because they don't know how to fight without their powers." Bruce explained. "Just wait until they're put up against some lunatic like the Joker, where reasoning has to be thrown out the window. Or the Riddler, a criminal so cunning that in order to have a chance of catching him you need someone of equal intelligence. I do what I do because when I was a boy the police couldn't put criminals like these away. It's only a matter of time before they resurface and the world is calling for the Justice League again."

"It may be a bit longer than you think." Wally pointed to the television.

The camera panned away from Sergeant Johnson and down the long, narrow street as people started to congregate, forming one large group. It appeared that they were holding up signs. As they marched up the street the signs finally came into view.

"It's some sort of protest." Diana noticed.

"Against the Justice League!" Clark yelled in angst.

As the crowd grew closer the signs finally became clear enough o read.

One sign read, "No Justice League, No Problem".

Another sign displayed a picture of all seven original members and compared them to evil dictators from throughout history.

"So this is how they really feel." J'onn said dejectedly.

Suddenly, a large man separated himself from the group, climbing on top of a nearby coffee shop and addressing the protesters below.

"Citizens of Metropolis." He yelled through a megaphone. "An era has ended. No longer will we be at the mercy of Superman and his league of self-proclaimed gods."

The protesters erupted, cheering the large man on. Most others ran, predicting the ensuing firefight, while some decided to join in.

"It's time," The man continued, beginning to lose his voice. "to find the Justice League while they're vulnerable and put an end to their reign of power once and for all."

The protest turned into a riot as members began looting the stores that lined Main Street, breaking every window in the process.

Bruce glanced across the room as Clark, fists clenched, violently stood up sending his chair crashing into the wall behind him. He rushed over to calm his friend down.

"Clark, there's nothing we can do. We have to let the police handle this one." He grabbed his shoulders, trying to get him to sit back down.

"We need to stop them!" Clark protested, pushing Bruce to the ground.

The others all gasped in unison.

Bruce got back to his feet and put a hand on Clark's shoulder. As he turned around Bruce drove his fist straight into his jaw, sending him across the room in a heap. Clark quickly got up and charged Bruce, who easily dodged him. He threw a fist directed at Bruce's skull, but it was succumbed to an elbow block. He attempted a body shot, aiming for Bruce's ribs. Bruce blocked and countered landing a soft elbow into Clark's nose.

The others watched in shock as the blood started to trickle out of Clark's bruised nose. The realization of how vulnerable they all actually are finally dawned on them.

"That's what will happen if you, or any of us, go out there. Do you understand?"

"Not everyone is trained in martial arts." Clark wiped the blood from his upper lip.

"They don't need to be when there are hundreds of them and one of you."

Clark stood up without breaking his stare with Bruce, who, as usual, seemed to be unfazed. Diana stepped in between the two before anything else could transpire.

"Alright, Bruce, you got your point across. We'll do it your way." He smiled. "But you better watch your back when I get my powers back."

Bruce smirked as he followed Clark out of the room.

**Chapter 8**

**Wayne Manor, January 6, 8:16 a.m. **

The rioting lasted a full day before eventually losing its rowdiness, allowing the police to finally apprehend the trouble makers and bring things back to normal. Sitting and watching the riot completely play out proved to bruise the ego of all five heroes, Superman being the most noticeable. He and Bruce were the first to wake in the morning. They sat at the kitchen table devouring the fresh plate of French toast that Alfred had just placed in the middle of the table.

"I can't believe we just watched a bunch of punks bring destruction to the city and didn't do anything about it." Clark talked as he chewed.

"What could we do? We're powerless. We would've been signing our own death certificates."

"Correction, Diana, Wally, J'onn, and I are 'powerless', you were never 'powerful' to begin with." Clark jabbed, letting out dorky laugh.

Bruce let it slide, it was the least he could do after embarrassing him in front of the others last night. "Now that the police finally have things back under control it's safe to start our investigation."

Clark looked to Bruce quizzically.

"I wish I could be half as patient as you."

"And I wish I could throw a bus through a building, but we all have our differences." Bruce answered sarcastically.

"You two are up early." Bruce and Clark turned to see Diana enter the kitchen and take a seat next to Bruce.

Bruce sat in amazement as he looked at Diana. Even after just rolling out of bed, she was still easily the most beautiful women he's ever seen.

"We have a busy day ahead of us, today's the day we finally start getting answers." Clark explained.

"That's fine with me, I hate the idea of taking a car everywhere."

Hearing a new voice in the room, Alfred entered to see who had come down.

"Good morning, Princess. What will it be for breakfast?"

Diana thought for a moment.

"Oatmeal with sliced strawberries mixed in? She asked unsure of what was on the menu.

"Right away, Princess."

Diana looked to Bruce.

"He's amazing. I don't know how I'm going to get used to cooking my own food again."

"If you play your cards right you won't have to." Bruce said charmingly.

The comment almost made Clark, who was in mid sip, choke on his coffee. Bruce regretted the statement as it was coming out. He had somehow allowed "Playboy Bruce Wayne" to make an appearance; a side of him his teammates have never seen.

"And how would I do that?" Diana asked flirtatiously.

The question caught Bruce off guard as he stammered. Clark could feel the awkward change in atmosphere at the table. Not wanting to make him suffer for too long, Diana changed the subject.

"Clark tell me, how's Lois."

"She's doing great." Clark realized what Diana was doing. "I'm actually going to see her over at the Daily Planet today."

"Oh that reminds me, do you have this morning's paper? I love trying to complete the crossword puzzle."

"I already have." Bruce tossed the paper over to Diana, regaining his swagger. She looked down to find every box filled in with black ink. "Well at least I could do the-"

"I already finished the word scramble too." He took a triumphant sip of coffee, having completely made up for his slip earlier.

Diana shot him an annoyed look, but was quickly distracted by the cup of steaming hot coffee placed in front her.

"Thank you, Alfred." She took a sip and felt the smooth, hot liquid flow down her throat and heat up her entire body. "Where are Wally and J'onn?" She asked, just now noticing their absence.

"J'onn in in the Batcave looking for anything that will help us with our investigation.. Wally is still sleeping." Bruce forked his last slice of French toast into him mouth and washed it down with the rest of his coffee. "We should go down to the Batcave, the sooner we start the sooner you guys will get your powers back."

The others agreed.

"I'll go wake up Wally." Clark ran upstairs leaving Bruce and Diana alone in the kitchen.

Bruce stood there waiting for Diana to bring up his flirtatious comment. After initially wanting to do just that, Diana decided not to throw the uncharacteristic statement back in his face.

"I guess we should get down there. I'm bringing this with me." She grabbed her bowl of oatmeal, winking at Bruce as she walked by.

Bruce couldn't help but smile.

**The Batcave, Minutes Later**

The Batcave was dark and damp, something, along with the feeling of being stared at by hundreds of winged rodents, that the others took time to get used to. J'onn sat at the giant Batcomputer, located against the back wall of the cave, typing furiously.

"Have you found anything of substance yet?" Bruce asked, startling the martian, who had been under the impression that he was still alone.

"Actually yes I have."

"Great, let's hear it." Diana stared at the large monitor, finishing what was left of her breakfast.

"Do you remember the officer that was being interviewed by Lois Lane yesterday, right before the riots?"

Diana and Bruce nodded in unison.

"Remember how he seemed to infer that the world may be better off without the Justice League?"

They both nodded again.

"I felt that those comments made him a person of interest so I pulled up records on the police database. Overall he seems to be a very solid and dignified officer, trying to work his way up the ranks."

"But?" Bruce asked, predicting J'onn's next words.

"But there is one pattern that caught my eye."

"Pattern?" Diana asked.

"In his attendance." He began to explain. "Every Tuesday and Friday there is a forty-five minute gap in which Sergeant Johnson is unaccounted for."

"That _is _strange." Bruce agreed, scratching the rough stubble growing on his chin.

"What is stranger is that it is at the same time of day every time, 6:30p.m."

"I'll look into it tonight. In the meantime, let's see if the famous Clark Kent can't get himself an interview with the Sergeant."

**Chapter 9**

**Wayne Manor, 9:38 a.m.**

"You want me to interview Johnson?" Clark asked uneasily.

"Yes, do you think you can get it done today?"

"Probably, those up and coming officers usually love getting a little face time." He sighed. "But Lois won't be too happy, it's her story."

"Get it done. The rest of us will all be looking for answers from different angles."

Clark, who had already changed into his customary navy suit, straightened his glasses and grabbed his briefcase.

"Wish me luck."

"You won't need it." Diana reassured. "You're a great reporter."

""I meant with Lois." He nervously chuckled as he walked through the front doors and climbed into the car Bruce had waiting for him outside.

Bruce turned his attention to Wally as he finally made his way down the stairs. His hair was uncombed and he looked as if he had barely slept at all the night before.

"Not much of a morning person, huh." Diana joked.

Wally faked a laugh.

"I'm sorry that we all can't look like supermodels minutes after waking up."

"Wally." Bruce began, interrupting their banter, "There is another car outside waiting to take you to your lab in Central City. Figure out what the gas was made of that way we can more easily create an antidote."

"And how am I supposed to do that!" Wally asked in disbelief of the expectations.

"With this." Bruce handed him a small silver cylinder.

Wally quizzically stared at the strange object.

"Inside is a small sample of the gas. It was sent to me this morning by one of my sources in Italy, she was able to obtain some as the missile ripped through her town."

"Well this should help….a lot."

"Just be careful. She gave me the last of what she had. If we lose this we may not be able to reverse what it's done."

"But no pressure." Wally carefully put the cylinder into the side pocket of his backpack. "So will this car be serving beverages, maybe some apple juice or something?"

"Just go." Bruce quickly grew tired of Wally's wise remarks.

"Okay, I'm going." Wally exited the mansion, finding his car waiting for him.

Bruce and Diana were the only two left in the mansion. It seemed to always turn out that way, Bruce thought.

"Diana."

"Yes, Bruce." She smiled. He tried to ignore it but had more trouble doing so than he expected..

"There is a United Nations meeting today in Metropolis. I have my best driver waiting to take you there. Listen to what all the ambassadors are saying about the situation and how they really feel about the Justice League."

"Understood." She nodded. "You know, I can bring a guest."

"I'll be busy here." Bruce couldn't trust himself being alone in a car with Diana for that long, especially after what had happened at this morning's breakfast.

"C'mon Bruce. You basically own one of the biggest cities in the most influential country in the world, the same city which Batman watches over; I think your opinion would be highly valued."

"Bruce Wayne doesn't play the politics game."

Diana rolled her eyes. She hated when he referred to himself in the third person like he was two different people: Batman and Bruce Wayne.

"I'll see you when you get back." He turned and left for the Batcave leaving Diana alone in the foyer.

She couldn't help but notice Bruce's sudden coldness towards her since his comment at breakfast. _I guess the Dark Knight isn't used to slipping up_, She thought, feeling a hint of self accomplishment. She had been trying to break Bruce for months with no avail. It didn't bother her much, she knew that he was only being so cold because he was trying to hide his true feelings; almost like a small boy denying a crush on a classmate in elementary school; it was actually kind of cute to watch. _It's only a matter of time,_ she smiled.

**Metropolis, 11:00 a.m.**

Over fifty representatives from some of the most powerful countries in the world gathered in the heart of Metropolis to discuss and share their country's view on the issue at hand. Among those representatives was Diana of Themyscira, although she was always referred to as Wonder Woman by the others, much to her chagrin. She'd rather they respect her role as ambassador to Themyscira and refer to her by her birth name.

The meeting was being held in a large room in one of the most prestigious buildings in all of Metropolis, the Tower of Justice, as it was known to most. Inside sat a large stage that stretched across most of the long side of the rectangular room. The seating was stadium style, gradually rising with every row.

Diana took a seat on the left side of the stage, if she arrived early enough to choose her seat she always took one away from the middle. Each representative was provided with a small desk that sat in front of them, for note taking, etc. More importantly, it held a small microphone so the ambassadors could easily be heard throughout the room.

Muffled chatter filled the room as long-time ambassadors got reacquainted with each other; and new ambassadors introduced themselves. Diana kept to herself, just observing for now.

A small man climbed onto the stage and stepped up to the podium. It was Jason Blair, from England, who usually served as the group's proctor.

"Good Morning, everyone." He spoke with a thick British accent.

The muffled chatter ceased as all eyes focused on Blair.

"I'll start off by thanking you all for making changes to your busy schedules to attend this emergency meeting."

The room nodded in acknowledgment.

"I think we are all aware why we're here." He continued. "But just to sum it up, yesterday evening there were small projectile that traveled the globe secreting some sort of toxic gas. Although it had no affect on regular humans like you and me, it temporarily incapacitated those beings who have special powers. Among those affected were members of the Justice League, including five of the founding heroes."

She pretended not to notice, but Diana could feel over fifty sets of eyes staring at her.

"This situation brings up many issues, we will take time to discuss them all. The first is; how do the citizens and the government of your respective countries feel about the sudden lack of protection that was previously provided by the Justice League?"

The room erupted as all the ambassadors in the room attempted to give their country's opinions at the same time. Jason Blair motioned for them to settle down.

"One at a time, please. You will all be heard." He pleaded.

The room finally quieted down as, one at a time, each and every ambassador got a chance to speak on his or her country's behalf. To Diana's surprise, there were mixed feelings about the Justice League.

Some, like France's Pierre Huet, said that his country was tired of supporting vigilantism.

"The only reason why we supported it for all this time is because we felt we had no choice." Huet explained. "There were so many threats from other super beings who chose to use their gifts for evil that it would've been foolish of us to deny protection."

Huet's comment resulted in many standing to cheer in agreement.

Vaclav Sykora, of the Czech Republic, had a different view.

"My country is small." He started. "Our army lacks the troops and funding needed to protect ourselves in the event of an invasion. We are much too poor to build an army that would be able to withstand a siege from a superpower like the United States or Russia."

"Isn't that what this organization is all about? Protection for the smaller countries." Someone yelled from the back. Many agreed. "If you were ever attacked you would have the backing of many countries throughout the world."

Sykora sat back down, dejectedly.

"What about you Wonder Woman?" A deep voice called out from the other side of the room. "What do you think about this?"

Diana slouched in her chair, trying to become invisible. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work as she was again being stared at by every set of eyes in the room.

"Themyscira feels that it is always a good idea to have the backing of such a powerful organization; there is always the threat of war in man's world."

"But how do _you_ feel about the issue?" The voice yelled.

"I am here as an ambassador to my Themyscira, not the Justice League."

The room erupted in anger but Diana refused to talk on behalf of the Justice League.

"They expect to be given their powers back and retake control of every government on Earth." Huet yelled.

"Who are we to decide whether or not they should keep their powers?" The ambassador of Norway yelled, bringing up the moral dilemma.

After keeping to himself during most of the meeting, ambassador of Canada, Theorin Delacroix, stood up and started voicing his strong opinion.

"They already miss the way they had all of us on a string. Offering us protection from their fellow psychos and demanding power in return! Like the mob!" He furiously pointed his finger at Diana while speaking.

"That's inaccurate!" Diana shot back. "If it wasn't for us you'd be-"

"We'd be better off." Delacroix finished her sentence.

Diana felt her face turning red with anger as she desperately tried to defend her team's intentions with seemingly no help.

"Calm down, everyone, please calm down." Blair tried to bring order back to the room. "The only way to settle this is with an old fashioned vote."

The room cheered.

"Everyone will be given a small piece of paper, if you are for the Justice League write 'for' on the paper. If you are against, write just that."

Paper started circulating throughout the room, as everyone made sure that they got their piece.

"Whatever the final result is, that's what we will do should we ever find a way to reverse the affects of the toxin."

The comment left the room deflated as everyone realized that their debating was all, in the end, just hypothetical, depending on whether they ever even find a cure.

**Chapter 10**

**Unknown Location, 1:14 p.m.**

"Prime Minister." Private came running into his office with urgent news. "We've gotten an update from this morning's United Nation's meeting in Metropolis."

"And?" Prime Minister stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing out the window. "Well, sir, it's good news. It seems that most countries are beginning to favor a world without super humans, just as you predicted."

The small figure looked out over his capital city. Dark clouds covered the sun casting a shadow that stretched indefinitely.

"Of course they are, they feel safer. Thanks to me they feel that there is no threat that a human cannot deal with because the threat is from either a fellow human or something built by a fellow human." He laughed to himself. "Unfortunately for them, they are sadly mistaken."

He lingered for a moment in self confidence until finally starting to bark out orders.

"Call Dr. Proctor, tell him we need that prototype as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir." Private scurried out of the office and picked up the phone at his desk in the lobby.

He dialed and waited. A strong voice picked up on the third ring.

"Yes?"

"Dr. Proctor, I'm calling on behalf of the Prime Minister's office."

"Has he made his decision yet?"

Private paused for a second.

"We'll take it."

**Wayne Manor, 5:47 p.m.**

The rain pounded on the roof of the black town car as Diana's driver dropped her off at the front steps of Wayne Manor. She watched the large wooden doors open as Bruce ran out to the car with a large golf umbrella.

"You were waiting for me?" She asked as he opened the door.

"Alfred won't serve dinner until we're all at the table." Bruce deflected the question, offering his free hand.

Diana accepted the offer, climbing out of the car, keeping hold of Bruce's hand and sticking close, taking cover under his umbrella.

J'onn was the first to notice his damp teammates enter the kitchen.

"How did it go?" He asked, as the others realized Diana was back. Bruce took his seat at the table waiting to be served.

Diana sighed.

"The room seemed to split down the middle; there was only a small difference between the countries for and against us."

"Unbelievable!" Clark slammed his clenched fists on the table in disgust. "After all we've done for them…"

Diana sat in the chair next to Bruce as Alfred put a plate of roast duck in front of her.

"Can you blame them?" J'onn reasoned. "They no longer need to rely on anyone to protect them; there is no threat that they will not be able to resolve."

Clark realized the validity of J'onn's statement, he just didn't want to accept it.

"One of these days something's going to happen. I don't know what, but it'll be bad, and everyone's going to be screaming for help from the Justice League again."

"That may be true, that's why, no matter how the vote turned out, we'll still be looking for an antidote." Bruce's statement had a calming affect on the table.

It didn't take long for Diana to notice the conversation's lack of wise cracks.

"Where's Wally?"

Bruce swallowed a tender piece of duck.

"He's staying at his place in Central City, it's right down the road from his lab."

Diana turned her attention to Clark who was still chapped, viciously tearing apart a leg with his fork.

"Did you get anything out of Sergeant Johnson today?"

"Absolutely nothing. He channeled his inner politician, deflecting all of my questions with irrelevant answers." Giving up on his manners, he grabbed the leg in his hands and took a large bite out of it. "Although I did get quite an earful from Lois after she heard that I was stealing her story."

The others chuckled.

"She'll get over it." Bruce said, turning to Diana. "So….how did the vote go?"

The room went silent. It was the question that everyone wanted to ask, although not sure if they wanted to hear the answer."

Diana put her fork down and looked to her teammates.

"After two recounts, the final tally was thirty-seven in favor of the Justice League, and forty-two against." She lowered her chin to her chest dejectedly.

The room stayed eerily quiet as all four heroes sat and contemplated the future together and that of the Justice League.

J'onn was the first to speak.

"So what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do." Bruce stared at nothing in particular. "Find that cure and make the person responsible for this pay for his insolence.

"We're not getting anywhere." Clark voiced his impatience after only a day of working.

"That just means it's time to take a different approach."

"What do-"

"Now it's Batman's turn."

**Chapter 11 **

**The Batcave, 9:58 p.m.**

The sight of Bruce suited up as Batman had the others all felling green with jealousy; they were all itching to get back in the field. He approached them at the Batcomputer, pulling his left glove down all the way to his fingertips.

"So what's the plan?" Clark asked, climbing out of Batman's chair so that he could sit.

"Sergeant Johnson frequents the same sports bar every Thursday night. Although he goes with a group of people, he walks there alone."

"Why Thursdays?" Clark asked. "That sounds random."

"Thursday is the day of the week that all the officers receive their paychecks." Batman explained. He began to describe his plan again. "Now, because he walks he doesn't take any of the main roads, it would take too long. Instead, he travels through the city's alleyways; not the safest route but it makes my job a whole lot easier."

Diana looked puzzled.

"How do you know all of this?"

"Surveillance." Batman grew tired of being interrupted. "Johnson's shift ends at 10:30p.m. I'll intercept him at the alley between Burke and Smith streets, that's where the interrogation will take place. Any questions?"

Batman's preparation for a mission never ceased to amaze the others who all exchanged small smirks.

"So what do we get to do?" Diana asked.

"Watch. You three are no good to me in the field, at least not without your powers."

Although taking offence to the statement, they all realized its validity. For this mission they would need to check their egos at the door and do what's best for the team.

"How will we be able to watch?" Clark asked curiously.

"I've installed a small camera in to my cowl; you'll get a first person's view of the city." He pointed to a microscopic device placed in between his eyes. "Maybe you'll learn a thing or two." He smirked as he turned and climbed into the Batmobile, speeding off for Metropolis.

Moments later, the giant screen came to life casting artificial light onto Clark, Diana, and J'onn, who all focused intently on the live stream of Batman's city.

"Amazing." Clark was impressed.

J'onn watched as the camera picked up all of the details of Gotham at night through the Batmobile's windshield. He took notice of the litter that lined every street, the provocative women loitering on every street corner, the more than occasional homeless man living in nothing but an old cardboard box on the side of the road…

"It's no wonder why Batman is always brooding, this is where he grew up, what he defends."

"Gotham used to be one of the most beautiful cities in the country." Clark defended his friend's hometown. "When Bruce's parents were still around they continuously gave to Gotham, helping the city prosper; they were two of the greatest philanthropists the world has ever known."

"So what happened with Bruce?" Diana asked turning away from the screen and focusing on Clark. "Why didn't he continue the family tradition? Instead he turned the Wayne name into a superficial symbol of hatred to the citizens. Whenever they see him he's dating supermodels or buying hotels, like he's throwing his wealth and success in their faces."

"Bruce is doing the same thing his parents are doing, he's just going about it a different way."

"What do you mean?" J'onn asked.

"Once he was old enough to take sole control of his family's wealth there was nothing money could do for Gotham; drug dealers, gangsters, and crooked cops had already dominated the city, leaving it a venue for the cruel and corrupted."

Diana and J'onn listened to Clark intently, like he was reading the most thrilling novel. The mystery of their teammates past was very interesting to them. Diana knew that Clark and Bruce were close, like brothers, but she had no idea to this extent.

Clark continued.

"Bruce wouldn't let another eight year old boy suffer the fate that he was forced to, he couldn't; he promised his parents. So he began to combat the gangsters and crooked cops through fear and intimidation; retaking the city the same way they had taken control of it after his parents died."

"He's cleaning up Gotham the same way his parents had, except he's doing it through vigilantism and intimidation instead of financially." Diana began to understand, she started to realize that Bruce wasn't as cold as his façade would lead one to believe.

"Exactly. He has continued his family's generosity just as well, if not better, than his parents had."

"But nobody knows that Bruce Wayne is doing it." J'onn objected.

"Because Bruce Wayne isn't doing it, Batman is. Bruce Wayne is just a disguise."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 12**

**Metropolis, 10:29 p.m. **

Sergeant Johnson stepped through the front doors of the police station at exactly 10:30..._right on schedule._ Batman watched in the darkness from the adjacent rooftop as Johnson began his usual trek to the bar. Batman followed suit, keeping up with Johnson from above. It didn't take long for the Sergeant to veer away from the main roads and step into the dark alleys, a move which proves to be the last of many at this time of night in Batman's hometown; luckily for Johnson, Metropolis isn't as dangerous as Gotham, except for tonight.

A steady snow started to fall as the clouds covered the stars and the sky took a golden hue , a precursor to an expected storm. Batman watched as Johnson lifted his hood over his head, trying to protect his ears from the bitter cold. The slick snow proved to be a nuisance, just once, as Batman lost his footing on one of his jumps, resulting in a small grunt that was hopefully muffled by the honking of car horns from the main road. He quickly recovered and continued his stalk.

Once Batman felt completely comfortable that Johnson was taking his usual route he made his move, jumping ahead until reaching the rooftop from where he planned his attack. He waited on the edge of the building for Johnson to appear around the corner, at the front of the alley, which was shaped like a big 'L' with a long, narrow neck and a ninety degree turn at the end.

Perching on the gutter and encompassed in complete darkness, the Dark Knight watched as his target finally came into sight three stories below. He was walking quickly down the long, narrow part of the alley, his hood was now completely covered in snow and it looked as if he had a full head of white hair. With his grapple already hooked, all that was needed was to wait for the most opportune time to attack.

Sergeant Johnson had taken the same route to the same sports bar every Thursday night for three years and he never ran into one problem. He felt safe enough, he had his 9mm on his waist, no criminal in Metropolis dared assault a police officer. The police in this city actually had some sort of hold over criminals, not like in that horrible city of Gotham where criminals and corrupt cops run the show. But tonight was different, tonight Johnson felt a little uneasy, a bit on edge; there was a slight chill in the air, and it wasn't just from the frigid January weather.

It's probably from the incoming storm, he told himself, recalling what the weather man had told him earlier in the day; but he didn't even believe that himself. He picked up his pace, walking rapidly, eager to get to the end of the alley, as sweat beaded down the side of his face.

_What was that?_ Startled by some sort of noise coming from above, he instinctively brought his hand to his hip, ready to whip out his 9mm on a moment's notice, and quickly jumped to the shadows, searching the rooftops. _It must just be my imagination. No, that was definitely real, I should check it out. I'm just scaring myself, it must've been an animal…like a raccoon or something. _He argued with himself the entire way down the alley.

"Yea, that's it." He said aloud. "It was just a rac-"

Batman smirked as he watched his target fall apart in front of him; that slip a few buildings back sure worked out well, he thought. Obviously nervous, Johnson glanced over his shoulder several times on his way down the alley. He then started talking to himself, murmuring things under his breath, like he was trying to convince himself of something. Batman was a seasoned veteran when it came to reading the mental state of a target, it was time to attack.

**Chapter 13**

**Moments Later**

Sergeant Johnson desperately tried to regain his bearings as he stared at the icy concrete thirty feet below. A rope was tightly tied around his ankles from which he was dangling from. Just seconds ago he had been briskly walking through the alleyways when a dark shadow grabbed him from above as they ascended back towards the rooftops.

As he dangled, Johnson knew that somebody was close by, he could feel the heat emanating from their body, but he couldn't see-

"Good Evening, Randall." A deep voice traveled through the darkness. "I have a few questions for you, I hope you're feeling talkative."

Johnson strained his eyes, trying to make out the figure in the shadows.

"Batman, is that- What are you doing in this town?"

Batman glared at him.

"Hey man, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your friends; we're on the same side."

"I don't work with scum like you, _man_."

"There must be some sort of misunderstanding." He frantically pleaded.

"I don't think so. We've been following you, Randall, you've been getting involved in some suspicious situations these past few weeks."

"I- Who's we?"

"I'll ask the questions!" He growled, finally stepping out of the shadows and revealing himself, forcing the hairs on the back of Johnson's neck to stand up. He grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in close. "Why are you pardoned for fifteen minutes every Tuesday and Friday night?"

"I- I don't know."

"Don't play dumb, it'll be worse for you."

"I- Ask Captain O'Neill."

"What does he have to do with it?"

"He has me run some errands for him, just little things here and there."

"Little things like what!"

Randall stuttered forcing Batman to shake him up a bit. He loosened his grip on his grappling rope, which was keeping Johnson suspended in mid air, letting him fall fifteen feet towards the concrete below before catching him and pulling him back up.

"I'm losing my patience."

"Okay…Okay." He started speaking fast. "A few months ago Captain O'Neill asked me to do him a favor. He needed it done every Tuesday and Friday at the same time: 6:30. I was skeptical at first but when he told me that it would help my potential promotion I jumped at it."

"Blackmail. Why?"

"I don't-" He stopped himself. "He said he had a big job…from real high up, something real hush, hush, ya know?"

"So what did you do? What was the errand?" He pulled on the rope to reward Johnson for talking.

"I was sent to a remote location, just a few miles outside of the city limits. All I had to do was send a short message, some sort of an update somewhere. He would give me the message just before I left and made sure that I remembered to burn it directly after completion of the objective."

"What did the messages say?"

"They were encrypted and written in invisible ink, double protection from curious eyes. I had to swab the paper with some chemical to reveal the symbols."

Batman noticed an orange stain on Johnson's fingertips from exposure to the chemical. He was telling the truth."

"Do you know where the messages were sent?"

"No."

"How did you send them?"

"They usually had me go to some abandoned warehouse or an old barn, there would be one laptop computer on a desk, I would send the message over a secure line."

"Are the computers still there?"

"They had me destroy them after use."

Batman processed all of the information. Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to keep their plans hidden from any non deserving eyes. He stared at Johnson's terrified face as he prayed the interrogation was over.

"I'm done with you."

Johnson let out a huge sigh of relief as Batman pulled him up and over the ledge, then threw him to the ground and grappled away to a nearby building.

Clark and the others watched Batman's intriguing interrogation in fascination.

"Amazing." Clark could never get used to the way Batman could get a grown man to spill their guts.

"Not exactly how you would've done it, huh?" Dana joked.

"I don't think I could, I don't have that sort of intimidation in me…and I can shoot laser beams out of my eyes."

"Well he is the greatest detective in the world, that includes the skill of interrogation." J'onn added. "If it's okay I'm going to take a nap; I've been up for days."

"Of course J'onn, go get some rest. We'll wait for Bruce down here."

J'onn exited the Batcave into the mansion.

Diana slumped in Bruce's chair, staring at the giant screen in front of her. Clark noticed her sudden deflation.

"Diana, is something wrong?" He asked, knowing the answer.

"What? No, I'm fine." She lied, unconvincingly.

"We've known each other for a long time, Diana. You're one of my best friends, like family, I'm not going to force you to tell me what's bothering you but I will advise you that you will feel much better if you do."

Diana sighed and hesitated before she spoke.

"I never thought I could feel this way about a man. Back on Themyscira we are told that we don't need men to survive, I went years without ever thinking about or even knowing a man, but now I can't go a few hours without thinking about Bruce." She tried to laugh. "Crazy right?"

Clark put his hand on her shoulder.

"Those are perfectly normal feelings, Diana. But why don't you let _him_ know that?"

"I've tried. Time and time again I've attempted to get close to him but he just shrugs me off, he won't open up to me, I don't understand." She dropped her chin to her chest.

Clark walked over to Batman's computer and started typing.

"I think you should see this."

Diana watched as Clark accessed the archives of the Gotham Gazette.

"What is this? What are you-"

"Just give me a minute."

He placed the curser in the search box and typed in the keyword 'Wayne'. Hundreds of articles that contained the name flooded the screen. Clark filtered them by date, trying to find one particular article from decades ago. Diana read the headlines as he scrolled to the bottom of the page. Most articles seemed to focus on Bruce Wayne's mysteriously luxurious life.

'Gotham's billionaire; What does he do?'

Some questioned Bruce's dignity and compared him to his parents.

'Bruce Wayne, One Apple That Has Fallen Far From The Tree'

"I am failing to see the relevance here, Clark."

"Patience, Princess…Ah, here it is."

Superman double clicked an article from January 18th over two decades ago. The article's title read "Thomas Wayne and Wife Shot Dead in Front of 8 Year Old Son"

Diana eyes widened as she read in terror, finally understanding the details of Bruce's most horrible night.

"Why didn't he-"

"He won't tell anyone, you have to find out for yourself."

"You found this yourself?"

"I did my own research after our first encounter. I could tell just by his attitude, his mannerisms, his choices, that something had to have gone wrong for him, there had to be some sort of emotional trauma that made him Batman; nobody's that cold for no reason, especially when you have billions. All his brooding, his unwillingness to let anyone get close to him, it's all defense, he doesn't want to be hurt again like he was that night, he can't"

"That's crazy!"

"It's Batman."

"What is he just going to grow old alone?" Diana's sadness turned to anger.

Clark sighed.

"If Gotham still needs him, he will"

Diana rolled her eyes, frustrated by Bruce's philosophy.

"He's never known what it's like to have someone close, I can show him how it feels."

"Actually, there was someone, a long time ago. The only woman who he was ever willing to hang up his cape for."

"What happened?"

"They were poised to get married, then her father ran into some…trouble, forcing her to move to Europe. It never worked out, it only added to his darkness."

"And how do you know this?"

"It's a big deal when Gotham's billionaire gets engaged. It dominated the news at the time."

Diana slouched in the chair, feeling deflated.

"So what did this woman have that I didn't?"

"Timing. She was his first true love interest, but after he experienced a broken heart he boarded himself up and promised to never let anyone get that close to him again."

"Great." Diana said sarcastically.

"But there's still hope." Clark reassured. "I saw how he looked at you during breakfast this morning, the feelings are there."

"You think?" She perked up a bit.

"I haven't seen Bruce act that way around a woman since…ever. It's like he's in grade school." He finally got a chuckle out of Diana.

"Imagine that, Batman in grade school." They both shared a laugh before getting back to the conversation. "But he always has a woman with him, everywhere he goes."

"They're just for fun, he doesn't actually feel anything for them; they're just for his image. Believe me Diana, if there's anyone who can bring some brightness to the dark knight, it's you."

Diana blushed, Clark's words made her warm and confident.

"Just be aware." He warned. "If you do decide to pursue this and you open up to Bruce completely you better be sure about your feelings. If he opens up and lets you in it's your responsibility to make sure that neither of you get hurt, physically and emotionally. If anything were to happen Bruce would be devastated. He'd board himself back up and this time it would be permanent. A man can endure as much physical pain as can be given, but there is only so much that one man's heart can take before breaking completely, and Bruce is right on the threshold"

Diana took Clark's advice to heart, she knew they were true.

"So when did you become so deep?" She laughed. "You really are a great friend, I am lucky to have you as one of mine." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Anytime, Diana. Like I said, you're like a little sister to me."

"Little?" She joked.

Clark chuckled.

"Go get some sleep, I'll stay down and wait for Bruce."

"Good luck, he keeps late hours."

"I'll do my best."

Diana exited into the manor, leaving Clark alone in the cold, damp Batcave.

**Chapter 14**

**2 Hours Later**

The Batmobile's loud engine echoed through the deep, cavernous caves as Batman finally returned from his interrogation. He climbed out the vehicle, noticing Clark awkwardly sleeping in his chair.

He cleared his throat.

"You're up late."

Startled, Clark almost fell off the chair.

"Somebody had to watch the place while you were gone." He yawned. "That was impressive, the interrogation I mean. I don't know how you do it."

"You wouldn't believe the things people will tell you if they think their life's in danger."

"But you don't kill, the people they rat out do"

Batman talked over his shoulder as he undid his cape.

"You make them fear what you will do to them more than their fear of being killed."

A chill ran down Clark's spine.

"You really are something else, Bruce."

Weary of Clark's sudden praise, Bruce could tell that there was something else on his mind.

"Do you and Lois need a loan or something?"

Clark looked to take offense of the suggestion, but knew that Bruce was too smart to not know that something was going on. He sighed.

"Bruce, I just think you should be easier on Diana. You know how she feels and you're the first person that she has had these feeling for. It would be better for everyone if you just let her in-we all know that you share the same feelings for her."

Bruce glared at Clark , showing his disgust, which was directed mostly at himself for allowing his feelings to be so noticeable.

"You know my policy, Clark. I don't have time for that, especially with a fellow Leaguer."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Clark pleaded. "We've all been expecting it for a while." He laughed.

"My enemies could try to get to me through her and it would be all because I couldn't ignore my feelings…something I've done my entire life."

"She's Wonder Woman! Is the joker going to throw explosive marbles at her?"

"You know he's capable of much more than that, stop being so ignorant, Kent."

Clark shrugged it off, knowing that Bruce was right, there was no knowing what the Joker was ever up to. He could blow up a city as easily as robbing a jewelry store. He moved on to his next argument.

"And we both know that you haven't ignored your feelings your entire life; Salina, Talia,…Andrea."

"That's enough!" Bruce pounded his fist on his desk. "This conversation is over!."

"Why are you so cold? Why can't you just enjoy your life? There's a lot to enjoy."

"You know why, my life was taken from me!" He yelled. "I made an oath, a promise."

"J'onn and I have gone through the same thing, we can help-"

"No, Clark! You weren't eight years old, you weren't old enough to remember. You didn't watch helplessly as the punk's knuckle whitened as he pulled the trigger. You didn't witness your parents fall lifelessly to the ground beside you all for the money in his wallet and the pearls on her neck. I hear those shots every night."

Clark fell silent, it was rare that Bruce ever let himself off like that. Bruce gathered himself, softening his voice.

"Yea, you've had a tough life Clark, you're the only remaining of your kind and I realize how hard that must be. But now you're a god, the face of justice, everyone loves you. Don't put yourself in my boat, it's not a place you want to be."

"You could be that if you just embraced the world instead of issuing justice from the dark. We're the same."

Bruce shook his head.

"You do what we do because you want to, I do it because I have nothing else."

Both men stood in the dampness of the Batcave, the only noise coming from the flapping of wings above. Clark was the first to break the silence.

"So what? Just because some punk took your childhood you can't enjoy your adulthood?"

Bruce stared into the dark caverns of the Batcave before turning and walking back to the manor.

"Turn off the lights when you come up."


	5. Chapter 4

*******AUTHOR'S NOTE******

**I sincerely apologize for taking so very long for updating this story. To be honest I was close to abandoning it until i re-read all the comments. It really means a lot to get such great feedback and I thank everyone who has read this story thus far. I hope I haven't lost any fans/readers for taking so long :/ Thanks!**

**Chapter 15**

**January 7, Unknown Location, 8:17 a.m.**

"Sir."

"Yes, private."

"The justice League is getting close; Sergeant Johnson has just informed Captain O'Neill that he had a run in with Batman."

"Did he say anything?"

"Very little, but apparently he mentioned Captain O'Neil's involvement along with details of his missions."

Prime Minister looked displeased.

"Did O'Neill take care of the Sergeant?"

The private put his head down to his chest.

"Yes."

"It seems that you are displeased by this.."

"What? No, I-"

"Be careful, private, remember what happened last time you voiced your displeasure?"

The private put his hand to his face and traced the scar tissue that was left behind from the last time he outwardly disagreed with Prime Minister. The scarred skin formed a horseshoe around his left eye, something he will never forget.

Prime Minister turned and gazed out the window, staring at the sun rising over his city.

"The Justice League is too late now anyway. In seventy two hours the effects of the gas will become permanent and there will be almost nothing left of the Justice League."

"Almost?"

"One of them was not affected by the gas, unfortunately for us he's the most dangerous of them all; unfortunately for him, he won't have a chance to defeat us once the suits are operational."

**Central City, 8:30 a.m.**

Wally's vibrating phone woke him earlier than he would've liked after a long night at the lab. Fumbling in the covers, he reached for the phone and finally answered.

"Hello?" He asked in a groggy voice.

"It's Bruce, did you find anything?"

"Good Morning to you too." Wally tried to wake himself up before explaining his progress. "Actually I have. The gas that took all of our powers is a man-made compound; the reason why it only affected super beings is due to its elemental makeup, unfortunately I haven't been able to discover the elements used. Whoever developed this knows what they're doing."

"How do the elements only affect _gifted_ individuals?"

"It only penetrates irregular cells, such as those in my body that allow me to run fast."

"How do we reverse the affects?"

Wally ran his head through his red hair; that was the question that had kept him up all night.

"I'm going to have to develop some sort of an antidote; something that will purge the compound from our cells."

"Can you?"

"Yea, but there's a problem."

"Problem?"

"I only have about another three days to create the antidote before the affects become permanent."

The line went quiet for a long time.

"Do what you can, we all believe in you. Oh and I'm sending you a sample of some sort of chemical that is used to reveal invisible ink, do you think you can have one of your buddies check it out?"

"Sure thing, Bats. I'll get Dr. Rivera on that upon arrival."

"Good luck, Wally."

"Wait." Wally yelled before Bruce could hang up. "How are you guys doing over there? It's weird being this far away from you all during a mission."

"We've also made some progress, we're going to head over to the station and have a talk with Captain O'Neill shortly."

"Captain O'Neill? You think he's involved?"

"We know he's involved."

**Wayne Manor, 10:25 a.m.**

"So why are we doing this now instead of waiting until later when you can work your magic again?" Clark asked Bruce who was being very secretive after his phone call with Wally.

"Because I've just been informed that we are now working against the clock."

"Against the clock?" J'onn asked.

"We have less than three days before the effects of the gas become permanent."

"And we-"

"Remain powerless, forever." Bruce finished Clark's sentence.

J'onn, Clark, and Diana all took a moment to process the information.

"So what's the plan?" Diana asked.

"I'm in the middle of thinking of one. It's a bit complex but-"

"I've got one." Clark exclaimed.

"Let's hear it." Diana and J'onn turned their attention off Bruce and onto Clark, much to Bruce's chagrin.

"I'll make an appointment with O'Neill for a special meeting later this afternoon; one he'll never refuse."

"How can you make sure of that?" J'onn asked.

Clark stared at Bruce and Diana, smiling.

"What?" Bruce asked, not liking the look conveyed by Clark.

"I'm going to tell him that Bruce Wayne is about to make a very generous donation to one precinct in Metropolis, and that he needs to tour every station to make his decision on which one. He'll welcome us with open arms, then once we get him alone we'll get him to talk."

"Let me get this straight." Bruce couldn't believe the foolish plan that Clark had suggested. "You want to interrogate the captain of the police in his own precinct, in the middle of the day?"

"Yes." Clark smiled boldly.

"What's my role?" Diana asked. "I'm sure as Hell not going to stay here in the Batcave…no offence, J'onn."

"None taken."

Clark thought for a moment, then started smiling again.

Bruce could sense something brewing.

"Diana you will be going as Bruce's girlfriend."

Diana smiled, Bruce was shocked at Clark's brashness.

"I think it's a solid plan." She laughed. "I'm in." Diana and Clark looked to Bruce.

"Fine, but if we all end up in jail you're the only one not getting bailed out." He pointed to Clark, then turned to Diana, feeling that he was being teamed-up on. "Wear something nice, I have a reputation to uphold."

**Chapter 16**

**Metropolis Police Station, 12:15 p.m.**

Diana could feel several pairs of eyes staring at them as Clark led her and Bruce, who were walking arm in arm, through the heart of Metropolis. At first she thought they knew who she was, then she thought maybe it was because Bruce's suit cost more than their cars.

She leaned in close to Bruce and whispered into his ear.

"Why is everyone staring at us? Do they know who we are? My face is never hidden like yours."

Bruce laughed at the suggestion.

"What?" She felt annoyed.

"They're staring at you because you're beautiful." He pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear with his free hand.

She could feel her cheeks heating up and she knew that they were a few shades redder than usual.

"What about the women?"

"Well." He straightened his tie. "I _am_ known to be rather handsome…and rich."

They shared a small laugh until being interrupted by Clark's introduction.

"Captain O'Neill, good to see you again." He offered his hand.

"Kent, it's been a while." He took the reporter's hand and shared a friendly shake.

Clark turned to Bruce and Diana.

"This is Mr. Bruce Wayne"

Bruce reached in for a handshake.

It's a pleasure to-"

"And who may this be?" O'Neill focused all of his attention on Diana, ignoring Bruce's hand and taking hers in his as he introduced himself.

"She's with me." Bruce interjected, grabbing her hand before O'Neill could plant a kiss on it.

"I always heard that you kept good looking company."

Bruce faked a smile as Clark jumped back into the conversation, sensing its downward spiral.

"So are you all set for the tour or did we arrive early."

"Don't be silly, Kent, we were ready the minute after you called. Come, follow me." He led them up the stairs and into the lobby. "So, Mr. Wayne, did you finally give up on Gotham, that ratty old city?"

"Not exactly, Captain, I just don't like playing favorites."

"Of course not, that wouldn't be good for your…stellar reputation." He said sarcastically.

"I'd just like to take a look around, to see where my money will be going."

"Absolutely, anything for a potential donor."

"Fantastic, let's get started."

**Wayne Manor, Simultaneously**

J'onn never enjoyed being held back from the field work, but in this case he understood why he was subject to the Batcave and with the technical part of things; it was necessary for the success of their mission. He was happy to help out in any way that he could, a true teammate.

There was little left to be researched on the topic; there wasn't much information out there in the first place. J'onn had already given himself a tour of the Batcave and now found himself struggling to stay awake in Batman's chair. His eyelids were about to close for the last time when the giant computer started chiming. Startled, J'onn looked up to the monitor. An incoming message, _that's strange._

The origin of the message was unknown, but J'onn opened it anyway after the computer assured him that it was virus-free. Moments later the large screen displayed a young man in a small, dark room. The lack of lighting in the room made it impossible for J'onn to make out the man's face, and the audio was distorted to hide the man's voice; whoever sent this risked their life to do so.

The man looked around the room a few times and started talking to the camera very lowly, almost a whisper.

"Justice League, I'm contacting you with my best intentions implied and a chance to clear my conscience. I have been sitting and watching as my country's leaders try to destroy the Justice League and subsequently take over the world."

The man started nervously looking over his shoulder again, making sure that nobody was near the door listening. He started speaking faster.

"Listen, what happened to you guys the other day, it's just a small first step of a much bigger plan. The masterminds have sadistic ideas that will have an exponential effect on life as we know it."

There was a noise coming from outside the room, somebody was knocking on the door and yelling inside. The door busted open as guards filled the room.

"Grab him!"

"Stop him!"

The man tried to turn and finish his message but was cut off by the butt end of a gun striking him across the temple. J'onn watched in terror as three men violently grabbed the unconscious traitor. The man's face finally came into the light just as the camera cut out, the only feature J'onn could notice was a large scar on the left side of the man's face, shaped like a horseshoe.

**Metropolis Police Station, Minutes Later**

"Hey baby, how you doin?"

"Hey, when you're done hanging out with this stiff why don't I show you a good time."

Diana was peppered with sexual comments as she walked through the precinct from low-life officers. She tried her best to ignore them, noticing that Bruce was having a harder time doing so. He made a statement of grabbing her hand to show the others that she was taken, just for the sake of the mission of course, he squeezed her hand tighter with every passing comment. After they continued to come, he stepped on the other side of her and blocked her from the onlookers with his muscular stature. Though he was subtle with his moves, Diana easily picked them up and found it flattering that the Batman was getting jealous because of her.

"What's down there?" Bruce interrupted O'Neill mid-sentence, pointing down a dark flight of stairs

"Oh, that's just the location of our holding cells, nothing too special. We don't need to go down there."

Bruce stared at him.

"Unless, of course, you want to, then we can go take a look."

Bruce started down the long stairwell, flicking a switch at the top to illuminate his path, the others followed suit. Clark took up the rear, pulling an old handkerchief from the breast pocket of his navy blue suit. It was a small, dark room with three cells. Only one was being vacated, an old, drunk man laid on his back, sleeping off the events of the night before presumably. A small window near the back allowed the only bit of natural light into the room.

"As you can see, it's nothing out of the ord-"

Clark came up from behind O'Neill and forced the handkerchief into his mouth, pushing him up against the nearest concrete wall. O'Neill fought Clark, but even without his powers Clark proved to be much stronger than the seasoned officer.

"The more you struggle the harder it will be." Bruce warned.

The continuous struggle was taking a toll on O'Neill as he finally calmed down, violently breathing in and out through his nose. Clark removed the handkerchief.

"You guys are insane, my boys will be down here in moments."

"Your boys can't hear a thing that's going on down here; and none of them would have the audacity to interrupt your big meeting with Bruce Wayne." Diana smiled.

As much as he hated it, O'Neill knew that they were right.

"Well what the Hell do you want? It surely can't be money?"

"We want answers." Clark stated. "Why have you been linked to the missile that toured the earth the other day?"

"Someone obviously wants my job." He suggested. Clark pushed him up harder against the wall; shoving his face into the concrete.

"Wrong answer." Bruce got up close to him. "We know you're involved in all of this, Pat. We just want to know who you're working for because this is obviously something far above your intelligence."

He attempted to spit at Bruce but was stopped by another shove to the head by Clark.

Dingo was one of the most dangerous hitmen in the world, one of the only in his field with a perfect success rate on his missions. He usually liked to stay away from the United States, it wasn't as easy to smuggle his rifle through customs as it used to be, but this job was an exception. When Dingo was told that he would be paid triple of what he usually makes for a hit he had to accept.

He set up on a building across from his target, it was one floor taller than the police station. Gazing through his scope, Dingo watched as three people approached the station and met his target at the front of the building. He easily recognized one to be the famous Bruce Wayne, the other two were strangers to him.

Realizing that this was going to be a bit tougher than expected, now with the new variables involved, he replaced his regular scope with a new infrared one that he had just purchased from a guy in Moscow. The scope allowed him to pick up heat signatures from anything emitting heat inside the building, essentially letting him see through the wall.

Dingo kept his scope locked on his target as he led his three visitors into the building. It seemed like he was giving a personal tour of the station to his guests, which hindered Dingo's chance to take him out unnoticed; nothing he hasn't done before.

Several minutes passed until finally Dingo was given his first opportunity, the only one he would need. He watched as his target's heat signature led his guests down a small staircase and into the holding cells. The room had only one window, fortunately for Dingo he was staring right through it. Regulating his breathing, he slowly steadied his aim until his target's head was in the middle of his scope. His knuckle whitened as he pulled the trigger until at the last possible second he pulled back. Something was happening inside the building. The three tourists had jumped his target and were holding him up against the inside wall. Dingo smiled, _this is only making it easier for me_. The three guests would automatically be the top suspects for the events that were about to transpire, giving him ample time to catch a flight back to Europe.

He brought the scope to his eye again and went through his usual ritual: regulated breathing, steadied hold of the rifle. He put the small dot in the middle of his target's neck as he was being held motionless against the wall. His target fell to his knees less than a second after he pulled the trigger. Dingo packed up his rifle and made his way down to the street just in time to watch a speeding ambulance screech to a stop in front of the precinct, as several paramedics rushed into the station to save their fallen comrade…something Dingo knew was now impossible.

"I don't work for anyone, other than the state of course."

"We know you're lying!" Diana yelled, kicking him in the back of the knee. His leg buckled as he fell to the ground.

Bruce and Clark exchanged surprised expressions.

"He was just doing some errands for me, I didn't know-"

The Captain snapped his neck back, as if he was stung by a bee, and immediately dropped to his stomach.

"What just happened?" Clark asked, staring at the motionless body.

Bruce knelt down and examined the incapacitated captain, pulling a tiny dart out of his neck.

"Poison." He threw the dart to the floor, shattering it into pieces. "He's dead."

Clark gazed out the window and scanned the tops of the nearest buildings; there was nobody there.

"What do we do now?" He panicked. "Everyone's going to think that we did this!"

"We're going to tell them exactly what happened," Diana stated, "..minus our interrogation."

Bruce ran up the stairs and found some officers talking at the water cooler. He feigned being breathless.

"Officers! Captain O'Neill…" He pointed down the stairs.

"What, what happened down there!?" They yelled.

Bruce shook his head.

"I don't know, one second we were talking, the next he fell to the ground. He's unresponsive."

The officers ran down the stairs and yelled up for someone to call an ambulance. They gasped upon sight of their fallen superior.

"How did this happen?!"

"We think somebody shot him with a poison dart, from through that window." Clark pointed to the lone window in the room.

The officers checked the body.

"Well where's the dart?"

"He landed on it when he fell, it shattered across the floor." Diana explained.

The paramedics arrived and rushed down the stairs, yelling for everyone to clear the room. Bruce, Clark, and Diana hurried out of the holding cells and back into the lobby of the station.

A mourning sergeant approached the three in the lobby. "You guys will need to give statements for our records. It's just protocol."

"We understand." Diana said softly as they sat on the nearest bench and waited for the detective to arrive.

"Also, we may have to bring you back in for questioning, since you were the only three down there with Captain; so make sure you don't travel too far from Metropolis."

All three nodded and watched as the sergeant dejectedly walked back to the crime scene. Not another word was spoken between them until they had all given their statements and were out of the police station.

"Well that didn't go as well as planned." Clark opened the conversation, adjusting his suit.

"We have bigger problems now." Bruce explained. "Whoever's behind this now knows that we're on their trail."


	6. Chapter 5

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**I honestly do not have anything against Canada, in fact I enjoy the country very much and love the sport of Hockey. **

**Chapter 17**

**Streets of Metropolis, Minutes Later**

After giving in their statements, Clark, Bruce, and Diana walked leisurely through the busy Metropolis streets looking for a place to eat.

"Clark, next time you have a plan, do us a favor and keep it to yourself." Bruce was still chapped—not used to such close calls.

"I'm sorry that my plans aren't as well thought out as Batman's, but we didn't have time to wait until sunset." Clark argued. "Plus, it was going fine until he was shot."

Bruce face palmed.

"There's nothing we can do about it now." Diana played the voice of reason. "Let's just stop off somewhere and then get back to Bruce's place."

Both men agreed, the botched interrogation was in the past, nothing else could be done.

"Well Clark, this is your city, any suggestions for lunch?" Bruce focused on the issue at hand.

"How 'bout a pizza? There's a great place right around the corner."

"That's fine with me, I'm starving." Diana hurried towards the corner, leaving the men a few paces behind.

Clark led the way into the small, family-owned pizzeria.

"Kent! How is goin', buddy?" The owner, a small Italian man, yelled from the kitchen as he shoved an uncooked pizza into the large brick oven.

"How you doin', Paolo?" Clark feigned an Italian accent. "Can we get a large pies back here?"

"Anything for you, chief. Give me fifteen minutes."

"Thanks we'll be in the back."

"Since when did you start hanging out with such an expensive crowd?" He joked as he started rolling out another batch of dough.

Bruce turned to Clark. "I didn't you were such a popular guy around town?"

"Well not as popular as the famous Bruce Wayne, of course." He laughed. "Lois and I come here a few times a week for lunch, we practically keep him in business."

They decided on a small booth in the back left corner of the room. Diana slid in next to Bruce leaving Clark by himself on the opposite side of the table. The three sat in silence for a few moments until Diana finally spoke up.

"So where do we go from here?"

Bruce shook his head. "I don't know, we've run out of leads, we'll have to start the investigation back up from scratch."

"We'll do what we need to." Clark reassured. "We're going to get to the bottom of this, I just know it." Even Clark knew that he being hopeful, but his teammates needed his optimism.

Paolo came over and placed a steaming pizza pie on the small table.

"Buon appetito!"

"Grazie, Paolo." Clark's Italian could use some work.

Each of them pulled a slice for themselves and dug into the delicious pizza. "J'onn to Justice League. Come in. Batman are you there?"

Bruce heard the Martian's soft voice in his ear.

"I'm here J'onn." Bruce was still chewing.

"How was the interrogation?"

Bruce ran his fingers through his dark hair.

"Let's just say that we really hope you're having more luck than us."

"That bad, huh?"

"O'Neill was shot with a poisonous dart just as he was beginning to talk."

Bruce listened to the small hum of the commlink as J'onn thought.

"Did you confiscate the dart?"

Bruce slammed his fist on the table, startling everyone in the pizzeria.

"I can't believe I- I through it across the room, I was so frustrated." He felt a tap on his shoulder and watched as Diana pulled a small piece of the broken dart out of her purse. The expression on her face said 'You owe me one.'

"Scratch that, J'onn. Luckily Diana was smart enough to pick up a piece of the shattered dart." He tried to hide his enthusiasm.

"Good, we can send it to Wally. Maybe he'll be able to get some information from it."

"Any good news on your end?" Bruce changed the subject.

"I just received an anonymous tip about who may be the puppeteer of this entire issue. A young man messaged us saying that his country is behind everything: our powers, the citizens turning on us, and he mentioned that there was something bigger."

"What?" Clark asked eagerly.

J'onn lowered his voice.

"I don't know, he was caught before he could finish the message. He was most likely killed."

"How do we know that he's reliable?" Bruce asked.

"It's the only lead we have right now." Diana suggested. "We have to pursue it."

"Diana's right." Clark agreed. "Let's finish up here and get back to Gotham."

"J'onn." Bruce started. "Contact Wally, see if he's made any progress on identifying the chemical."

"Will do. J'onn out."

They finished the slices that they were currently working on and hurried out to the car. Clark grabbed a few slices to bring with him for the ride as Bruce dropped more than enough money on the table to cover the cost of the pizza.

**Unknown Location, 1:30 p.m.**

Prime Minister's new assistant, a young, dark-haired woman named Anastasia, called him through the intercom in his office.

"Sir, your visitor has arrived."

Prime Minister swallowed the chunk of McIntosh he was chewing.

"Good, send him in." He got up and closed all the blinds in the office.

Moments later a tall, skinny man was led into the room.

"Ahh, Mr. Grimes, take a seat please. He motioned to the chair opposite his desk.

"Prime Minister." The man nodded and took his seat, unbuttoning his gray suit jacket and letting it fall to his side.

"Okay, Jacob, tell me, are we on schedule?"

"Systems are go." The man confirmed.

"And did we stay under budget?"

"That wasn't so simple."

Prime Minister sighed.

"How far over are we talking?"

"Three quarter million."

Prime Minister dropped his chin to his chest.

"Fine."

"So we're definitely going through with this?"  
>"We didn't come this far to back down now."<p>

"Very good, sir. We will launch the missile immediately.

**Central City, 1:52 p.m.**

"Hey, J'onn, good to hear from ya. What's up?" Wally answered his phone on the second ring.

"Bruce is asking for a status report on the unknown chemical. Have you made any progress?"

"Does Bats remember that I lost my power? It takes time to identify an unknown substance; you have to analyze it, break it down element by element, compare it to-"

"So you don't have it?"

He sighed. "No I have it, I just don't like that Bruce expects me to have it done so quickly; a pat on the back would be nice from time to time."

"From Batman?"

Wally agreed.

"Well maybe that's wishful thinking." The two shared a laugh over the line.

"Remember, it's not Batman's future that will be affected by this, he's doing it for us. So what's the chemical?"

"It's called radiochloride, it was used in the olden days to do exactly what they found it being used for today, to reveal invisible ink. What they didn't know was that it emits high levels of actain, a liquid that can infect the entire body from just the smallest contact with skin."

"Is it fatal?"

"Highly."

"How long would one have to live after coming in contact with it?"

"It takes a while to make its way into the bloodstream, but once it does the victim would only have a matter of days. Altogether, probably no more than four months. Why do you ask?"

"Batman said that Sergeant Johnson had the chemical all over his fingers."

The line went silent for a moment.

"Well I guess they didn't know what the chemical was capable of."

"No, I think they knew exactly what it was capable of."

"You mean-"

"Sergeant Johnson was never going to get that promotion."

"Whoever's behind this is being extremely careful covering their tracks."

"And now they now that we're onto them."

There was a short silence before J'onn spoke again.

"Is there any way to narrow down the suspects based on the identity of the chemical?"

"Actually there is. The chemical once proved to be so dangerous that is was banned in most industrialized nations. One of the few where it is still legal is Canada."

"According to Diana, Canada's ambassador was one of the most adamant protesters against the league. It could just be a coincidence…"

"Bruce doesn't believe in coincidences." Wally warned.

J'onn agreed.

"I will relay the message."

"Oh and J'onn," Wally called out just before he disconnected. "Tell the others that I'm close to finishing the antidote, I just have to-"

There was a loud crash on the other end, then the line went dead.

"Wally? Wally are you there?!"

The connection returned sporadically as J'onn tried his best to listen to what was happening on the other end.

"Wally West." The voice was low and muffled. "You are -der arrest for the conspire- of working with the -tice League and other super beings, which is a cri- punishable by jail -me in the UN. You ha- the right to remain -lent…."

**Chapter 18**

**Moments Later, Metropolis**

Bruce, Diana, and Clark sat in Bruce's limo on their way back to Wayne Manor when J'onn called with urgent news.

"They what!?" Bruce couldn't believe what they had just been told.

"The Central City Police arrested him for attempting to reverse the effects of the gas; an action that was outlawed by the United Nations after the results of the vote the other day."

The atmosphere in the limo shifted.

"What do we do?" Clark asked, looking to both of his teammates.

"Wait, there's more." J'onn interrupted. "Before the police arrived Wally was telling me that he had identified the mystery chemical and was close to an antidote."

"What did he say?" Diana asked.

"It is apparently banned in most UN countries. One country in which it is not happens to be-."

"Canada." Diana finished his sentence. "Canada's ambassador was very vocal about his disapproval of the Justice League at the UN meeting." Diana recalled.

"Exactly what Wally and I had thought."

"Are we going to question the Canadian hierarchy?" It didn't seem like an easy task to Clark.

"First we bail Wally out of jail, then we can decide what to do with the new information. I don't know how long he can last in there." Diana was concerned about her big-mouthed friend sitting in a cell with everyday criminals.

"With whose money?" Bruce asked.

Diana looked at him condescendingly.

"I don't even like him that much." He muttered under his breath.

Diana ignored the comment, pressing the intercom button and waiting for Bruce to speak.

He sighed before speaking.

"Alfred, change of plans. Take us to the Central City Police station."

"Very well, Master Bruce." The car pulled a quick U-turn and headed south towards Wally's hometown.

**Montreal, Canada, 2:43 p.m.**

Pierre and Kathy Fleury were enjoying an early lunch at one of their favorite restaurants in the country's most beautiful city. They were lucky enough to get to the restaurant just before the lunch crowd rushed in resulting in the hostess bringing them to the most desirable table in the large circular room. The square table for four was situated directly in front of a large window that looked out on the picturesque city of Montreal. They didn't know it yet, but this window was about to give them one of the greatest vantage points of the events to come.

Their waiter, a young, eager college student, approached them to take their drink orders when the missile first came into view. Kathy was in the middle of ordering her usual cabernet when she looked up and noticed that the waiter hadn't been paying an ounce of attention. Instead he stared out the large window, his mouth slightly agape, his facial expression quickly changing from confusion to terror. Kathy and Pierre followed his gaze out the window and shared a similar expression as they watched a large missile making its way to the heart of the beautiful city.

Unlike the previous missile that traveled the globe only days before, the one that had emitted the strange gas crippling the super beings, this one was different. There was no gas, nor anything else emitting from the body; this one was a warhead. The three watched, paralyzed, as the missile tore through the city. Finally realizing its target, Pierre let out a soundless scream and watched as the warhead crashed head on into the famous Victoria Bridge.

The bridge's leg immediately collapsed after the explosion, sending shards of stone and steel shrapnel in every direction. A large cloud of smoke and rubble rose, engulfing everyone within half a mile of the bridge.

Stunned by the impact, Pierre and Kathy were still trying to gather themselves when the second missile came careening into the opposite leg of the bridge, less than 500 yards from the restaurant. Temporarily blinded by the abundance of dust and rubble, Pierre could barely see the last two legs of the bridge give out under the pressure, sending the giant steel monster falling directly towards the restaurant. Pierre reached for his wife's hand and pulled his crucifix out with his other, and with his last few moments on earth, he began to pray.

The blood curtailing sound of metal crashing against metal disrupted his prayer. He opened his eyes and looked up. To his amazement, the bridge was being suspended in mid-air.

"Superman!" He yelled, assuming that the man of steel had yet again saved the city.

"Not quite."

Everyone looked up in amazement as their prime minister, equipped in some sort of newly designed super armor, held the Victoria Bridge over his head. He readjusted his hands, getting a better grip on the bridge and gently lowered it to the ground. Then, taking off his helmet, he turned to a cheering crowd, gesturing for them to calm.

"Citizens of Canada." He projected his voice so that everyone could hear. "With the sudden decommissioning of the Justice League the world is in need for a new guardian. Without Superman and his teammates, who is to save us from disasters like these? We can!" He answered his own question. "Your government whom you yourself voted in. Together, with the help of Dr. Proctor, we have the potential to create hundreds and thousands of super armored suits, like the one I am wearing now, that will be used to protect our citizens from disaster."

The crowd erupted in agreement.

"But we live in a democratic society; the government will not force this decision upon you, we will let you choose. Tomorrow there will be a nation-wide vote on whether we will begin the production of hundreds of these super suits. The choice is yours."

The crowd erupted again, proudly chanting the name of their leader.

"Every vote counts, my friends. I hope to see you all at the polls." He left on that note to a raucous crowd, flying away and leaving the citizens below in awe.

**Chapter 19**

**Central City, 3:04 p.m.**

The desk clerk for the Central City Police station watched as Bruce Wayne and two others walked through the front doors and into the building. She had read about Gotham's prodigal son many times in the tabloids, and she had to admit that he looked even better in person. He was wearing a sleek, black designer suit, a large, silver watch on his left wrist, and freshly polished black shoes. The entire ensemble probably costing more than her car.

The two that she didn't recognize followed Bruce into the lobby as he approached her at the front desk.

"Excuse me, Miss." He smiled, placing an elbow on her desk to lean in close to her. "You seemed to have taken in one of my good friends earlier, I would like to make his bail." He was so close that she could smell his cologne.

"Uhhh, of course." She fumbled through the day's logs. "What's the name?"

"Wally West."

Bruce watched her green eyes focus on the monitor as she clicked the mouse a few times. It only took her a couple moments to get to the screen that she was looking for, but Bruce could tell that there was bad news coming as he watched her bite her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry Mr. Wayne, but it seems like Mr. West has been taken in without the option of bail, there's nothing I can do."

Bruce turned to the others and they huddled up in the middle of the vacant police station.

"What do we do now?" Clark asked.

"Just follow my lead." Bruce turned back towards the desk clerk, turning on the famous Wayne charm.

"That's okay Miss…" He searched for a nametag.

"Olivia." She said, smiling and offering her hand.

Bruce smiled, taking her hand in his and raising it to his lips. Olivia's face turned a shade of red that resembled Superman's cape.

"He's not that good of a friend anyway. Listen, I would like to take you to dinner one of these days, would that be okay with you."

"Absolutely." She laughed.

"Great, let me take down your number." He grabbed a writing pad from his breast pocket. "I'll just need to borrow a pen."

He reached over and clumsily knocked over the large jar of pens and other office utensils sitting on her desk as all of its contents fell onto her lap.

"I'm so sorry, let me help you with that." He stepped behind the desk, helping her out of her chair. "It's the least I can do."

"I guess there still are a few gentlemen out there." She smiled.

"You've got to be kidd-"

Clark nudged Diana before she could finish.

Bruce knelt down to help Olivia, placing a hand on the small of her back as they picked up the scattered utensils.

"Now where were we?" He asked clicking the top of his new pen and shoving something into Clark's midsection with his left hand.

Clark let out a small groan after Bruce's unexpected punch.

"Wha-"

Diana grabbed his arm, turning her back to Olivia. Clark looked up to see her pressing her finger to her lips and motioning down to Bruce's left hand. Clark looked to see him holding a large ring of keys. There was a small label on the key ring that was barely visible due to all the years of wear, but Clark could just barely manage to make out the letters. It read "Holding Cells". Finally realizing the plan, he grabbed the keys and followed Diana to where they believed Wally was being held.

The rest of the station was lightly guarded making it easy for Clark and Diana to weave their way in and out of rooms to avoid the few lingering officers. It was a seemingly simple task to locate and smuggle their new convict out of the cells.

"Clark, Diana! What are you doing here? They're holding me without bail. They said that I'm a public-"

"Shut up." Diana ordered as she quickly jammed the keys into the corresponding hole, unlocking the large cell doors.

"Let's move." Clark urged. "I don't know how long Bruce can keep that receptionist swooning."

"Wait, what!?"

"Nothing." Diana said coldly, rolling her eyes and pulling Wally out of the cell.

Wally and Clark shared a quick smirk before following Diana back to the lobby.

They returned to the lobby to find a line at the front desk five people deep. At the front was Bruce searching through his pocket planner. He noticed his team out of the corner of his eye.

"You know what, Olivia, my butler knows my schedule better than I do. Give me a call and I'll have Alfred set up something for us."

"Okay, I will." She smiled and watched as he turned and left, not even realizing that there was an extra person in their party. Then something dawned on her. "Wait, I gave you my number!"

Bruce slipped through the front door and rushed everyone into his limo.

"C'mon everyone, let's move."

"You sly playboy." Wally laughed offering his hand for a high five.

Bruce glared at him and threw him into the car.

"Back to Wayne Manor, and hurry." He looked to the others. "It won't be long before they realize they're top criminal is missing."

**Moments Later**

Captain Keenan pulled his crown vic into a spot right in front of the police station, just vacated by a black limousine. Must be my lucky day, he thought. He smiled as he led two representatives from the Department of Defense into his precinct to let them meet his new federal criminal.

"Right this way, boys." He said. "Olivia, how are we today? You're looking ravishing as usual."

"Thank you Captain." She smiled, handing him two visitor's passes.

"Our guy is still in the back?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.

"You bet!"

He gave a gracious nod to his receptionist and led the two men in black suits through the heart of the station. Moments later, one could hear his scream from two blocks away.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 20 **

**The Bat Cave, 6:14 p.m. **

"What a slimy, little man." Diana said, disgusted, after watching the footage of Canada's prime minister exploiting the vulnerability of its citizens.

"Political manipulation at its finest." Clark said. "This could potentially end in disaster."

"He's right." Bruce agreed. "I've studied politics for a long time and this is reminiscent of the dictators of the twentieth century; he definitely has an ulterior motive."

"And with that…weapon, there is no saying what he will do with his new power." J'onn added.

"I guess it's obvious that he is also involved in the loss of our powers." Diana suggested. "This would be much too convenient otherwise."

"But he's not working alone." Bruce explained. "No politician, especially one of his scale, has the time to concoct a gaseous weapon like the one that affected us as well as design and build that suit of armor. There is definitely someone else behind the curtain here."

"This would be so much easier if we had our powers back." Wally suggested.

"Welcome to my world."

Wally ignored Bruce's comment.

"I was close to finding the antidote before General Howdy Doody and his army burst into my lab and slapped the cuffs on me." He rubbed his wrist, still sore from the handcuffs' tight grasp.

"You can finish your work here." Bruce pressed a button on his computer. A large stone wall on the side of the cave slid to one side revealing a state of the art, scientific laboratory. "We need that antidote as soon as possible."

Wally gazed in awe at the set up in front of him.

"Are you kidding me!? You had this in your basement the entire time and you still made me work in that run down shack?"

"Yes." Bruce's curt response discouraged a witty answer from Wally.

Instead he tried glaring until finally realizing that there was a problem.

"Guys, wait. When I was arrested the officers confiscated my notes. I need them if I have any chance of finishing this on time."

"Did they say where they were bringing them?" Bruce asked.

"Yea, they also gave me a map and a key to the drawer it's being held in."

"Think, Wally. Did you hear anything, anything at all?" He tried to refresh his memory. "On the ride there, in the interrogation room, on your way to the cell…anything?"

Wally closed his eyes and concentrated for a long moment. He tried to remember everything that happened after he was taken from his lab. All of the others watched intently, willing Wally to magically remember a tiny detail that he may otherwise had forgotten.

"Ummm…I heard something like, 'Take it to dad…or dod…? I can't remember I was in a state of panic."

"No need to apologize." Bruce was already slipping his cowl on. "That's all we need."

The others looked at him quizzically, all except for J'onn.

"DoD, Department of Defense. That's where we'll find the notebook."

"Precisely." J'onn agreed.

"You're just going to break into one of the most secured buildings in the country?" Diana asked.

There was a long silence.

"No, we are."

They collectively gasped at Bruce's desire to go as a team.

"J'onn, you stay here, keep us up to date on the situation in Canada. Also, we'll need you to download the schematics of the building; in case anything goes down we'll need to know how to escape quickly. Wally, get yourself acquainted with the lab. Clark and Diana, you're with me."

"Whoa, hold on. Why can't I go into the field? I just spent three days in a dark lab and a moldy jail cell, I need to stretch my legs."

"Wally, you-"

"Bruce, it's alright." Clark intervened. "I'll stay here with J'onn, Wally deserves it."

"Yes! Thanks, Supes." Wally and Clark exchanged fives.

Bruce glared at the gesture.

"Fine. Let's move then."

"Wait a second." Wally interrupted. Bruce was losing his patience.

"What?"

"You're going to run around in your suit of armor while we're left exposed in our civilian clothes?"

"That's the plan."

"How is it going to look if the Dark Knight is jumping off rooftops with two civilians? That'll really hurt your street rep."

"Fine, then I'll go alone."

"All I'm asking for is a little protection, you can never be too careful."

"Actually, Wally brings up a good point." Diana added. "Without our powers it would be nice to have some sort of protection."

Bruce sighed and turned to Wally.

"Well what did you have in mind?"

Wally put his hand to his chin and slowly looked around the Bat Cave until finally stopping and focusing on one spot and smiling widely. Bruce followed his gaze, and dropped his chin to his chest.

"You've got to be kidding me."

**Chapter 21**

**Unknown**

The Prime Minister's personal phone buzzed in his suit pocket. He fished in and brought it to his ear.

"Yes?"

"How'd it go?" The voice on the other end asked anxiously.

"You didn't watch? I'm offended; it was on every major news station."

The line stayed quiet.

"It went just as planned. The citizens are practically eating out of the palm of my hand." He grinned at the thought of his major success, as well as those to come.

"Very good."

"It shouldn't be long until we can initialize the final stage of the plan."

"So should I begin production of the army?"

"Absolutely."

**Washington D.C., DoD**

Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl stepped out of the Bat Plane and surveyed the area. It took some time for Wally to convince Batman to allow him and Diana, who couldn't care less about the situation, to wear the old uniforms.

The nation's capital was quiet on a Thursday night; all of the country's leaders and politicians were already in bed getting ready for a busy end of the work week, while others were just settling in for that night's Capitals' game.

"So where do we start Diana asked?"

Diana's voice coming out of Barbara's old uniform took Batman a little getting used to; although he was already accustomed to the endless commentary that flowed from the Nightwing costume.

"This is us here." He pulled a small GPS device from his utility belt and pointed to the tiny green dot in the middle. The DoD is located on 41st street, all the way over here." He pointed to a red "target" light halfway across the city. We have two hours to complete the mission in order to give Wally an ample amount of time to create the antidote."

"That's quite a hike, why didn't we just land closer to the target?"

"We couldn't risk anyone seeing us coming?"

"All those billions and you didn't install a stealth mode on that baby?"

"I have, they would still be able to pick up the vapor trail; these people have almost all the gadgets I do."

"How are we supposed to get halfway across the city and back in less than two hours? Without being seen?"

Batman's patience had finally run out, he stepped toe to toe with Wally and stared him straight in the eyes. "We'll travel by rooftop." His jaw was tighter than a vice. "This city isn't even half the size of Gotham and I've stopped Joker from releasing his poisonous toxin on the Upper West Side whilst apprehending the Penguin for racketeering on the Lower East Side in less than two hours."

Diana couldn't help but to laugh at Wally getting scolded like a little boy. She imagined that the original keeper of the uniform he was wearing had gotten similar lectures.

"Stay quiet, keep to the shadows, and follow my lead." He emphasized the last part of the sentence.

"Do we get any fancy gadgets?"

Batman muttered something under his breath before jumping from a standstill and landing on the adjacent rooftop seconds later.

"Y'know Wally, you're really pushing it." Diana said before following Batman's maneuver.

"I know, but it's all in good fun; I'm just trying to get him to smile."

Batman led his two teammates from rooftop to rooftop, as quietly as possible. The nation's capital was much different than Batman's home; the lack of tall sky scrapers forced them to periodically travel on the ground, weaving through the city's dark alleys.

"Y'know what, Bats, I have a new found respect for you; I can't imagine doing this night after night, it's killer on the thighs and glutes!"

"Discipline." He said, holding up his arm, gesturing to the others to hold their positions. "There it is." He pointed to a large guarded building across the street.

"How do we get passed the security?" Diana asked.

"Well…Batgirl…and I will use our capes to glide down over the security fences, making sure to land in the shadows on the far corner of the property, less security, no way we'll be seen."

Wally searched his new garb.

"Ummm….I think Alfred must've forgot to sew mine on."

"You'll use this." Batman reluctantly handed him his grappling gun.

Wally held it in his palms like it was an ancient relic.

"Just aim the claw at something sturdy, something you know can hold over twice your weight. When you're hooked, jump off the roof and swing across to the building. When you're ready to drop click the release on the side with your thumb. Try landing in the same corner that we'll be in."

"Sounds easy enough."

Batman turned to Diana to begin her tutorial until realizing that she had already jumped off of the roof and was gliding, elegantly, through the cool, night air and successfully landing behind the security gate and out of sight. Batman couldn't suppress the tiny smirk that covered his face.

"Show off, now it's my turn!" Wally aimed the grappling gun at the adjacent building and fired. He tested that the rope was taught, then stepped up to the ledge. "She's something else, isn't she?" He jumped off and swung through the air.

Batman watched from the rooftop as his teammate completely miscalculated the angle, swinging rapidly through the sky. Unable to control himself, he pressed the release out of panic, practically flying straight over the landing zone and into a set of garbage cans about a hundred feet away, causing quite a commotion. Batman face palmed.

"Wally!" Diana yelled softly so the guards wouldn't hear her, as if they hadn't heard the loud impact of two hundred pounds meeting metal trash cans. She hurried over to her fallen teammate. "Wally, are you okay?"

Wally stood up holding his head with one hand and what looked to be a take-out carton in the other.

"Chinese, anyone?"

Diana rolled her eyes, laughing at Wally's constant laid back attitude.

"Where's-" She began to speak but was cut off by a distant voice.

"You sure you heard something?" The muffled voice asked.

"Absolutely, it came from right over there." A yellow light came beaming toward them. Wally's crash had apparently not gone unnoticed.

"It sounded like something knocked over the garbage."

"It was probably the wind, or a raccoon, we're lousy with little varmints around here. Why do you have to bother me with every faint, little noise you hear?" The guard spoke with a New York accent.

"Because it's our job."

The New Yorker rolled his eyes.

"'It's our job' he says." He mocked his paranoid partner, looking to the sky as if he was asking a higher being why he had been given the night shift with him.

Diana and Wally were caught in the corner of the electric fence with the guards coming at them head on. They were stuck in a diamond shaped trap.

"Ya know what, Jackson? This is the last time. Next time you think you hear something you're coming out to investigate yourself." The New Yorker spoke profoundly, as he shone his flashlight in the direction of the trash cans, revealing the two imposters.

"Hey, hey!" He started punching Jackson in the ribs. "You were right, there they are!" He pointed.

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know, I've never caught anyone before."

"I guess we call it in." Jackson suggested.

"Makes sense to me." The guard put his hand to his radio that was attached to his shoulder.

Batman, still on the roof, watched as the guards moved closer and closer to his teammates; he knew that there was no escape. Unlike Wally, he calculated his angle carefully, aiming for what seemed to be the leader of the two; the New Yorker who was yelling and emphatically waving his arms around.

Making sure that there was no wind, he jumped. Grabbing his cape with both hands and extending his arms, using the cape like a parachute. Descending directly behind the guard he carefully timed his kick so that his feet met the guard's back at the apex of his thrust. It worked to perfection, the souls of his boots struck the guards back as he followed through, driving the guards face into the mud. He quickly turned to the second guard, the one named Jackson, who was desperately fumbling for his radio hoping for backup. Batman threw a jab to the guard's ribcage, he fell in pain, but not before Batman caught him and delivered a well-placed elbow to the side of his head, rendering him unconscious.

"That….was awesome!" Wally yelled.

"C'mon, we don't have long now before someone realizes that these two haven't checked in during roll call; then they'll know we're here."

"Well at least something good came from Wally's mess up." Diana reached down to one of the incapacitated guards and pulled a security pass from around his neck. "This should make our lives a bit easier."

"You're welcome." Wally smiled.

It wasn't long before Batman rejected the idea.

"You have to be careful with those. They seem like a good way to cut corners, but there are likely cameras at every door for this exact reason; it always seems like a good idea but it'll come back to bite us in the end."

"So then how do we get in?" Wally asked.

"My way." Batman looked up and pointed to the ventilation shaft four stories above. He carefully aimed and fired his grappling claw onto the grating that covered the opening. Anchoring his feet into the ground, he pulled hard, until the old grating finally gave in and snapped off the side of the building and falling to the ground next to them.

Once inside, Batman pulled out a small electronic map of the building. "It's five stories tall but what most people don't know is that they did some underground renovations under the Carter Administration. There are two extra floors down there and that's where they keep confidential evidence. According to my sources they keep the "ongoing case" evidence on the first of the two floors."

"How many sources do you have?" Wally asked rhetorically.

"A couple billion dollars' worth." He smirked.

The hallways were dark and ominous. Silent and empty besides the occasional passing night guard; they avoided them with ease. The real danger was the electronic alarms. They carefully and successfully made their way to the elevators.

"Wait, we're just going to take the elevator down? Wouldn't that be like telling them where we're going?"

Diana stared at Wally. "I have a feeling he's got that figured out."

Batman almost smiled at Diana's trust in him.

"First we'll use this." He pulled out a small device. "It will plug into the elevator's controls and open all of its doors. Then we'll shimmy down the cables until reaching our destination."

"Couldn't we just take the stairs?" Diana asked, earning a spectacular glare. "Boys and their toys." She rolled her eyes.

Batman plugged in his gadget and moments later the doors slid open. He checked the shaft. "Good, the elevator is above us" He jumped into the void, grabbing onto the thick cable, and rappelled down into the darkness- the others followed suit.

It took them a couple minutes to reach their desired floor, and when they did they were unpleasantly surprised.

"Security Breech!" An electronic voice boomed through the building. "All units be advised, the building has been breached. The police are on their way! The message repeated continuously as red strobe lights lit the corridors.

"They must've found our friends." Batman suggested.

"Now it's time to do things my way!" Diana pulled out the security pass that she took from the guard and approached the first door in the hallway."

"Diana, they've probably shut down all-"

She slid the pass like a credit card, the display flashed green and the door opened.

"After you.."

Diana led the two men through the maze of hallways.

"On the right!" Batman yelled from behind. "It should be in that room."

Diana opened the doors. It was a large room, easily the size of half a football field, with years of evidence held in thousands of filing cabinets, from top secret cases that have yet to be closed.

"Can you imagine the secrets this room holds?"

"Focus." Batman urged.

"This would be a whole lot easier with my speed."

"Everything should be filed chronologically, we just need to find the starting point. Then it'll be easy. Split up, look for the most recent dates."

The three scatter to separate corners of the room, furiously searching for dates. They could now hear the faint sound of sirens two floors above. _They're getting close._

It took 4 minutes and 32 seconds to find the right drawer.

"Over here!" Diana yelled. "I found it."

Batman ran over and looked at the drawer. _January 7, 2013_, two days ago; the same day Wally had been arrested.

Diana pulled on the drawer, "Locked."

Batman took out a lock-picking set from his belt.

"That thing really does have everything!" Wally laughed.

They could hear the elevators being called above them, time was running out. Batman was on one knee, a drop of sweat beaded down from under his cowl.

"Hurry they're almost here." Diana urged.

They could hear the _ding_ as the elevator came to a steady rest at the end of the hallway, followed by the sound of at least a dozen SWAT officers quickly approaching.

"This way!" The SWAT leader yelled, following the path of open doors that led straight to the evidence room.

"Sir," A young officer yelled, "the doors are being blocked from inside."

The leader motioned for the battering ram. A large man stepped up to the door; he planted his feet and bent his knees, he swayed the battering ram back and forth to gain momentum before using all of his strength to drive the ram through the door. The hinges broke off instantly and the door fell back out towards him, revealing three heavy filing cabinets that were blocking it from the other side. The leader through a smoke grenade in the room and every officer rushed in behind it.

"Clear."

"All clear over here."

"Same over here."  
>"Nothing." The leader said. "They're gone…and it looks like they got what they came for." He pointed to empty drawer on his right and looked up to the open ventilation shaft in the ceiling.<p>

**Chapter 22**

**The BatCave**

J'onn sat at Batman's computer searching the internet for updates on the situation in Canada. After hours of searching, he finally found one.

"Clark, you should see this….. Clark?"

"Yep, I'm here." He climbed out of the batmobile, letting out a big yawn.

"J'onn stared accusingly.

"I wasn't sleeping, I swear."

A slight smile crossed J'onn's face, "My turn next."

"Deal. So what's up?"

"There are some changes being made up north."

Clark let his eyes readjust before reading the screen. "They're monitoring cell phones to track potential traitors?... Or in this case anyone who opposes the current regime. That's insane! And immoral!"

"They have also taken control of the microphones in the cell phones, in order to eavesdrop on suspicious parties' conversations."

"They're creating a fascist state!"

"It's not much different from what the U.S. government practices under the PATRIOT Act."

Clark didn't answer, he knew it was true. This is a troubling time for mankind.

"It gets worse, though. According to this source, they have given themselves permission to apprehend anyone linked to suspicious anti-establishment behavior and they are subject to arrest."

"This needs to be stopped! How are the citizens allowing this to be done?"

"They were so eager for the government's protection after the bridge incident the other day; they didn't fully understand the power they were granting it."

"J'onn we've seen this movie before. We both know that it never ends well for the power-hungry tyrant; he should know that too."

"Perhaps one sin humans cannot overcome is greed…"

"Unfortunately, you're correct." Batman entered the cave alongside Diana and Wally.

"Was it a success?" Clark asked.

"If it wasn't would we be here?"

Clark looked to Diana, "What's wrong with him?"

"You mean besides the usual?" Wally joked as he walked over to his new lab.

"We ran into some trouble with the local SWAT, nothing we couldn't handle. I think he's just tired, he hasn't slept in days."

"There's no time, we only have 30 hours."

**Chapter 23**

**The BatCave, 5 Hours later**

**7:27a.m.**

Wally and J'onn worked vigorously through the night, working on the antidote, while the others took the down time to get some well needed sleep, much to Bruce's protest.

"Estimated time of completion?" J'onn asked.

Wally looked up. His hair was disheveled, black circles engulfed his eyes as the blood started to pool, red whiskers were protruding from his face; J'onn had never seen the man work so hard. Everything always looked so easy for him due to his speed; that accompanied with his personality made it easy to forget how necessary Wally was to the team.

"Soon." He could feel the burden of all the superheroes and heroines counting on him to get this done; it was exhausting. "Sorry, J'onn, I'm just getting so overwhelm-"

"It's fine, Wally. There is no need to apologize." J'onn knew the feeling of having an entire race of people relying on you, a feeling he would never wish on anyone.

A light flicked on, illuminating the stairwell in soft yellow glow. They both glanced over as Bruce gracefully descended into his abode.

"The Prime Minister has just taken away freedom of the press. All printed articles must be approved by his people before being published. Anything that portrays his administration poorly is altered and edited; the author's taken into custody. It's like something out of _1984_."

"It can't be long before the UN steps in to take control of the situation." J'onn suggested.

"That's exactly what he wants." Bruce took a small disc out of his pocket and inserted it into the computer. It thought for a moment before an abundance of pictures flooded the monitor. "This was sent to me this morning."

J'onn gasped.

The pictures were taken at the main manufacturing plant in Canada. They showed the assembly of hundreds, if not thousands, of their patented super suits; the same that was worn by the Prime Minister when he 'saved' Montreal.

"He's waiting for the UN to make the first move so that when he launches his counter attack he can show off his new army and establish his empire—defending his choice by proclaiming that he had none, that he was defending his people."

"The human mind is fascinating." J'onn stated. "We should alert the UN."

"It's too late." Wally pointed to the upper left corner of the monitor, it was the local news station.

_"As of 6:30 this morning the U.N. has mobilized its army. They are heading to the northern border in upstate New York. If there is no word from Canada about shutting down their operation by noon, we are told that the U.N. will invade."_

"This has the potential to be one of the most devastating battles in both countries' histories." J'onn exclaimed. "The aftermath could be cataclysmic."

"I agree, that's why I'm going to Canada. I need to stop this before it starts."

"How do you plan on doing that? By yourself, no less."

"When you take down the leader, the pawns follow suit."

"But the leader is bound to be protected by dozens of those pawns!" Wally interjected. "And he'll probably have one of his suits handy too."

"Yes, and even if you succeed you will be arrested and persecuted… or even killed."

Bruce was already suited up and had one foot in the BatWing. "If that's what it takes to prevent thousands of soldiers and civilians from being killed, to prevent families from suffering the loss of a brave mother or father, son or daughter—then I'll gladly trade my own life for all of theirs, for their families and the people who care for them."

"What about the people who care for you?"

He stepped down into his cockpit and closed the hatch.

J'onn knew there was no talking him out of it, he was as stubborn as they come.

"If we find an antidote, we will be there right beside you."

J'onn couldn't hear him from inside the cockpit, nor could he read his mind at the moment. But he could read his lips: _I know._


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 24**

**BatCave, 1 Hour later**

"He what!?" Diana slammed her fist on the computer.

"He left about an hour ago," J'onn explained. "He wants to end this war before any blood is shed."

She turned to Clark, "You knew about this?" She felt betrayed.

He nodded.

"And you didn't stop him!? He'll be killed; we all saw what that suit was capable of and they have an army of them!" She grabbed him by the collar, shaking uncontrollably.

J'onn lowered his head. "He took that into consideration before he left."

"Did he take into consideration what he'd be doing to us? To the people who are crazy enough to care about him?"

She tried to calm herself, turning her back to her teammates folding her arms, and lowering her head to her chest.

"Diana," Clark, put a hand on her shoulder, "We all know he's a man of few words; he told me to take care of you."

"I can take care of myself!" She seethed, and stormed out of the cave into the mansion above.

Ominous silence took hold of the cavern, the only noises coming from the bats above.

"Wally," Clark said softly. "How close are you?"

"We're getting there, Supes. I just nee-"

"We need it now."

"Now!? There's no way, I can't do it that quickly, I don't have my speed, I- I- I-" He stammered, completely overwhelmed at the demand.

"Wally, focus." Clark grabbed him by the shoulders and stared straight into his eyes. "If you don't devise that solution in the next hour or so..." He paused, "…Bruce will die."

Eye contact was maintained, but nothing was said for a long moment.

"I can do it."

**Canadian Air Space, Simultaneously.**

The short flight north to Montreal felt like a trip around the world. Batman, usually so sure of himself and exuding confidence, found himself second guessing his decision for the first time in years. A part of him knew that he was doing the right thing, the heroic thing—saving thousands of lives, saving tens of thousands of families from grief and turmoil. So many reasons as to why he should go through with it, yet only one that was holding him back. _It would be a selfish act._

The GPS on his instrument panel chimed, telling him that he had just crossed the US/Canadian border; if there was ever a time to turn back, this was it. He ran through everything in his mind again: The Prime Minister acting as a tyrannical dictator, the citizens losing rights by the hour, the super suit, countless of innocent soldiers who will be killed on the battlefield, thousands of kids left without a mother or father, his parents, his childhood, his current life, Diana…

Suddenly, though, the decision had been made for him. Two stealth missiles settled in behind him, closing in fast. He ran through the possibilities in his head before acting. He waited, just until the missiles were about one hundred feet away, before he jerked the stick, maneuvering up and over the projectiles. In the moments it took the missiles to relocate their target, Batman had already used an electromagnetic pulse which detonated both warheads in mid-air. He steered the plane straight towards the explosion before ejecting himself and parachuting down to the forest below. Seconds later the BatPlane lit up the sky like it was the fourth of July, shedding scorching bits of shrapnel down to the trees below.

Batman knew that he had just bought himself a large amount of time; the destruction of the BatPlane will give the Prime Minister the idea that he succeeded in killing his target. They'll send a search team out to survey the wreck and only then, when they can't find any trace of his body, will they realize that they'd been duked.

He took a glance at his GPS device, _too far to hike. _Pressing a stiff button on his right gauntlet, he sent a signal out to his nearest garage, which he knew to be only miles from his location; within minutes he heard the quiet whine of an electric motor as the BatPod rolled up to his feet.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 25**

**Montreal**

Anastasia entered her boss' office, "Pri-, uhh, Emperor—we are receiving a message from the U.N. via satellite."

The new, self-proclaimed, emperor stood up and smiled, "Let the games begin."

They walked over to the video screen, the diplomatic leader of the U.N. was already waiting for them.

"Good Morning, Prime Minister."

"It's Emperor now." He cut the man off.

"Of course. W here at the U.N. hope that you are aware that you are in direct violation of multiple U.N. sanctions. Obviously we would like to settle this peacefully, but if you force our hand we will have no choice but to attack and forcefully take control of your government. If no progress is made by noon, the siege will begin."

"An ultimatum!" The emperor laughed. "You pencil pushers have more gumption than I had thought."

"Sir, they don't actually believe that they can defeat our new army..?"

"Let's hope they do."

**BatCave**

Wally couldn't believe that Bruce worked in such drab conditions every day. He'd only been working down in the BatCave for one night and he already felt extra grumpy, so much so that he kicked his teammates, who weren't much of a help at that point anyway, out of the cave to focus on his work in solitude. _A few more hours down here and I may turn into the guy…_ Time was running out quickly and millions of people were relying on him to get this antidote concocted. Still, he thought looking to the clock and realizing how little time he had left, it would be nice to reverse time for-

He stopped working, he dropped everything. The idea that popped into his head…could it work? Could it be the solution? Could it be so easy? He wasn't sure, it was a longshot but his gut told him that it was the answer.

_If I reverse the charge of the elemental makeup of the compound, then maybe the new solution will have the opposite effect as the original!"_

Rushing over to the cabinet to his right, he grabbed one of the several beakers containing the original compound. He placed it on the countertop and began searching through every drawer in the lab.

"C'mon, c'mon, Bruce…gotcha!"

An old, crumpled sheet of paper laid in the bottom of a drawer- probably hadn't been used in years. _Bruce must know this thing completely by heart, that's dedication. _

On the paper was a plethora of squares, one after another, some different colors- each square had one, two, or three letters inside of it with some accommodating numbers. It was the Periodic Table of Elements.

Early in the investigation he identified each individual element that made up the compound, now he searched feverishly to find each element's corresponding square on the table. Although he hadn't used the table in some time, he knew the symbols for most of the elements; it didn't take long to figure out the rest.

"Okay, so we have plus six, plus four, minus two, plus five, minus six….seven, so it's positive!"

According to the table, the combined elements gave the compound a positive ionic charge, which meant to reverse it he obviously needed to make it negative.

_Alright, Bats, what do you have in this facility that'll do the job?_

To his surprise, nothing. A state of the art facility, he thought, and not one-

_I wonder what a bat keeps in his trunk…_

The batmobile, like every other automobile runs on an engine, although it may be bigger and more expensive, Wally knew that all engines have the same problems. And when they run into these problems, every smart car owner makes sure that they have the necessary equipment to fix it. _Let's see if Bruce is a responsible car owner._

It took him ten minutes to figure out how to open the heavily guarded batmobile, but what he found inside made it all worth it. Jumper cables.

Attaching only the negative claw of each side of the cable to the batmobile's engine and a steel plate that held the counter-agent, respectively, Wally eagerly jumped into the complicated cockpit of the batmobile and floored it.

The sound of the revving engine echoed throughout the entire mansion. Diana, Clark, and J'onn, who were all enjoying a nice brunch with Alfred, dropped their finger sandwiches and rushed down into the cave. Engine exhaust filled the cavern, disturbing the vermin above.

"Wally!" Clark yelled to no avail. Wally couldn't hear anything over that engine. "Wally!" He tried again, running up to him and shaking his shoulder.

Wally looked up, smiling, and mouthed, _twenty more seconds._ Clark began to countdown in his head.

When Wally's foot finally relaxed off the pedal, the air in the cave was barely breathable.

"Kaff, kaff… what are you doing?" Diana asked."

"I figured it all out!"

"What!?"

"I did it! Well I think I did. I reversed the charge of the original compound using Bats' jumper cables. If my hypothesis is correct, the compound should now yield a negative ionic charge, which will hopefully grant us our powers back!"

"I knew you could do it, Wally." Clark stepped up to his friend and threw his arms around him.

"But how do we consume it?" J'onn asked.

"Same as the first time, it needs to be in gaseous form, so I'll just heat it up," He rummaged through equipment until finding a Bunsen Burner. "And we can all breathe it in."

"Outstanding, Wally! Spectacular work!" She punched him in the arm.

"Well don't thank me yet," He said, rubbing the spot on his arm that she just hit, "As I said I'm not absolutely positive that this will work, and if it doesn't I'm not absolutely positive if it will have a different, less desirable effect on us."

"Less desirable, like what?" Diana asked.

"I couldn't tell you. If the original compound stripped us of our powers, there is no knowing what this could do."

A nervous silence filled the cave. It only took a couple of minutes for the solution to boil and start evaporating into the air.

"I guess I'll volunteer, it's my experiment." Wally stepped up to the beaker.

"No." Clark objected. "If this doesn't work then we'll need you to continue to work for an antidote. I'll test it."

The other three agreed, watching anxiously as their leader stepped up to the boiling liquid. He bent at the waist, so that his face was inches from the top of the beaker, all of the gaseous steam rising straight up to his pours. He breathed, slowly and deeply, allowing the gas to travel all the way into his lungs. He took three, four, five breaths, before stepping away from the solution.

"Well?" They all asked apprehensively.

"I'm not sure, I-" He stumbled backwards, falling into J'onn who kept him on his feet.

"It's okay." Wally reassured. "His body is just reacting to the foreign substance."

J'onn let Clark rest on the cold floor for a few minutes to gather himself before asking, "How do you feel?"

Clark took a few breaths, "I'm good, I'm fine."

"Do you feel any different?!" Wally asked anxiously, offering a hand to help him up.

"I think so." Clark grabbed Wally's hand and squeezed almost crushing every bone.

"Yow! You could've just said 'yes'!"

"You did it Wally!" Diana hugged him hard.

"Well done, Wally." J'onn said. "Let us hurry now, we have a job to do.

Diana, Wally, and J'onn eagerly took turns breathing in the Wally's cure.

"Ahhh, Hera, it feels so good to be strong again! Let's go show the world what we think of the Prime Minister, boys!" She punched Wally again in the arm, this time sending him fifty feet across the cave. "Whoops."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 26**

**U.N. Headquarter, NY**

The U.N.'s leaders sat at the long, mahogany, conference table willing the call that they were all anxiously waiting to come in. As they waited an army of the world's greatest platoons was being marched to the U.S./Canadian border in anticipation of the ensuing war.

The BatPod ran steady at 115mph for the fifty mile drive to the heart of Montreal. Not even the freshly fallen snow coating the city's roads could slow Batman down; he knew that the most catastrophic war in human history could begin at any moment. Working in the daylight had Batman uneasy, the dark clouds above gave the city an ominous aura. All the citizens had been told to stay indoors due to the storm—the usually busy metropolitan area was basically empty besides a few store owners who were just now deciding to close up shop for the day to get home while they still can. Everything was quiet and tranquil.

_Like the calm before the storm._

Montreal, although not the capital of the great country up north, was known to be Prime Minister's favorite. It was said that he spent more time in this city than any other in the large country. Batman knew exactly where he would be; the narcissistic leader never really made it a secret.

The skyscraper that Prime Minister resided in was not heavily guarded by any means. Who would dare challenge the man with a super soldier army? It didn't take long at all for Batman to take out the ground sentries, two with batarangs and one with chloroform, and rappel up the building and onto the roof twenty-two stories above.

The roof proved to be more of the same with only three more guards covering the vast expanse of concrete. He approached his first victim in a crouching position, coming from behind, as he swiftly grabbed him by the neck, cutting off blood circulation to the brain until rendering him unconscious. The remaining two guards stood together by the edge of the roof, overlooking the snowy city from two hundred feet above. _Too easy. _Batman sprinted at them from behind, his footsteps suppressed by four inches of fresh snow. By the time they heard him coming he had a hand on the side of each of their heads. In one vicious motion he smacked their skulls into each other and threw them into the snow.

An open ventilation duct lay on the far corner of the rooftop, Batman easily fit through the opening and landed in a room with hard floors and no lights. Darkness. He pulled a flare form his belt and lit the room up with a red glow. Nothing.

"Very impressive, Dark Knight." A deep voice said from the shadows.

The lights came on, illuminating the entire room; Batman winced as his eyes readjusted themselves. Finally, opening his eyes, he found himself in a room filled with officers pointing automatic rifles directly at him. The leader of the group stepped forward.

"I have to say, this was much too easy. You're losing your touch, Batman, age has made you predictable." He laughed, "Take him in."

Batman let out a slight smirk before being clubbed over the head and temporarily knocked unconscious.

The world's newest emperor was sitting in his quarters waiting for the festivities to begin when he heard a knock at the door. It was his number two. The man came running in, looking very excited.

"Emperor, I have great news, sir!"

The leader nodded, allowing him to continue.

"We have apprehended the Batman. He breached the building from the roof just as you said he would."

The emperor laughed, "Of course he did. Bring him here."

The man snapped his fingers and moments later two large officers entered the room dragging Batman by the arms and throwing him to the ground in front of the emperor, who reveled at the sight.

"Ahh, the Batman, the last hero on Earth and now you're in my custody. So much for the world's last hope, huh?" He exuded arrogance.

Batman didn't speak.

"All the things I can do to you right now, all the pain I can bring..." He took a moment to think excitedly to himself. "I can't even decide!"

"Well hurry up, end my misery."

The emperor thought, "You know this was almost too easy. To catch you, I mean. It's almost like you wanted to be caught. Why? Well I have no idea, but I've heard that you were crazy."

"No crazier than you." He spat.

The small man walked over to Batman, he kneeled down, getting directly in his face.

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm going to make it your last mistake. I have something special planned for you, you see." He spoke low, barely above a whisper. "A battle to the death with the Batman, the leader of the Justice League, and me, the leader of… well everything else. We wouldn't want anyone to miss such a big event, now that just wouldn't be fair. That's why I've allowed news stations from all over the globe to air the feed. Now what do you say, are you up for the challenge?" He asked rhetorically.

Batman glared into the man's cold, black eyes, "Nothing would make me happier."

The emperor snarled and walked across the room. "Now since you'll be allowed to use your suit and all your fancy gadgetry, it's only fair for me to use mine." He pressed a button on his desk. A portion of the side wall of the room slid away, revealing the super suit, presumably the same one he used to catch the bridge days earlier.

"You see, Batman," He started as he climbed into his machine. "What better way to kill all hope of my new populous, any confidence in a resistance, than to kill the only man capable of resisting me, on the biggest stage? Prime time."

"You're mad!"

"Maybe, but normality is so overrated… I'd expect you to understand." He motioned to the officer behind Batman who gave him a dose of noxious gas and dragged his, again, unconscious body out of the room.

**Chapter 27**

**U.S./Canada Border, Northern Washington**

The visibility was less than spectacular; the snow was falling horizontally at this point as Lieutenant Price and his platoon took their positions, waiting for the call. Price looked to either side of him and saw hundreds of squads doing the same, all led by officers like him, who were in a truly precarious position: leading their soldiers into imminent death. Regardless, Price did his best to rally his forces.

"They're just men, no different from you and me!" He urged.

His soldiers nodded in agreement, gripping their weapons so tightly that the oil was rubbing into their skin.

"They may have brawn but hey lack finesse. Wars are won with intelligence, not strength! Anything built by man can also be destroyed my man; we _can_ defeat them!" His voice rose with every sentence.

His platoon reacted positively, shouting in agreement.

"This country was won with guerilla warfare, and today it will be preserved using the same methods!"

His soldiers raised their weapons in the air, cheering with a new sense of hope.

"We're in a forest, keep to the trees. Stay invisible, out of sight, until you have a clear opportunity to attack. Those super suits, or whatever they call them… they're big, clunky machines; they weren't designed for close combat. Let them get right under our noses, then," He held up a grenade. "Ambush those bastards."

The line erupted, every soldier cheering and chanting with optimism. Price was glad that he was able to spark his troops so well. They truly believed they could win this war, even he was starting to believe it too.

As the minutes passed they all maintained position, staring at the horizon and waiting for their enemy. Old, heavy snow fell of weakening tree branches, giving them just a moment to rest before fresh snow took its place. The sun was nowhere to be seen; the sky, covered by black clouds, was completely shrouded in darkness.

The deafening silence engulfed the forest. Every soldier tried their hardest to conserve energy and warmth. Price found himself wishing that the army would just show up already and let the inevitable battle finally begin.

It wasn't long before his which became a reality. Small, subtle tremors shook the ground, quickly becoming larger until finally Price looked up and could see the faint gleam of metal on the horizon. Suddenly, he wanted to take his wish back.

**Montreal, 4:45pm**

Blurred vision was only one side effect of the knockout gas. He quickly realized that dizziness was another as he almost stepped off the side of the twenty story building before finally catching his bearings.

"Good, you're finally awake."

Batman gazed across the large, square rooftop and saw Prime Minister staring at him, fully equipped in his super suit. The sun was already below the horizon; there were flood lights in every corner of the rooftop, illuminating the large concrete square as if it were still day. Two feet of snow covered the roof, impeding any movement. Overhead, a national news station's helicopter was streaming the footage live to the citizens down below, and presumably for all the news stations on the globe. The

"There's no escape, Batman, you are as good as dead. Just do them a favor," He pointed to the citizens watching on the televisions in the window of an electronics store across the street, two hundred feet below, "Try to make it a show."

Batman watched as, in one swift motion, the super suit leaped across the rooftop and swatted him with its giant, robotic arm, sending him tumbling to the edge.

"This is going to be sad, really. The world will watch one of its greatest heroes die without even putting up a fight." He bent down and pulled a water pipe from the roof, throwing it in Batman's direction. "Here, take this, it may help you live a few minutes longer." His arrogance was nauseating.

He clunked over and picked Batman up by the neck, again throwing him across the rooftop like a ragdoll. The citizens down below watched in terror as the machine that they themselves had sanctioned was making quick work of their final hope for freedom, their last hope of redemption.

The effects of the gas, which had yet to wear off, along with the beating he was currently taking, made Batman unsure of how much longer he could last; he needed to act now. He pulled a batarang from his belt and threw it at the super suit. It was perfectly placed, heading straight for the Prime Ministers face, but it shattered upon impact with the bulletproof glass that protected his head.

"Silly little bat, your toys are no match for my suit." He rushed towards Batman again and swung at him. Batman jumped, dodging the attempt, and landing behind Prime Minister.

"You've forgotten one thing, Emperor."

"What's that?" He quickly turned around.

Batman took two batarangs out of his belt and held them up.

"Haven't you already tried those?" Prime Minister laughed.

Batman smirked. He aimed for the flood lights as he threw the batarangs, shattering the bulbs and knocking out half of the roof's light source. Prime Minister raised his arm, shooting two .50 caliber rounds at Batman who expertly eluded them, jumping into the new darkness that was cast across half of the roof. From there he threw two more batarangs taking out the last of the roof's light, leaving it completely shrouded in shadows. Prime Minister searched the rooftop nervously, looking for his enemy.

"I am darkness." He grabbed the pipe that was laying on the ground and silently charged Prime Minister, swinging the pipe and hitting him in the small of the back. It was a glancing blow, and did little, if any, damage.

Prime Minister swung his arms in every direction, helplessly trying to make contact with his enemy. The helicopter up above switched on its searchlight, illuminating a small circle around Prime Minister. Batman avoided the light.

"I am the night!" He growled, swiftly charging in again and swinging the pipe, hitting his adversary in the midsection, again there was nothing much to show for it. He jumped back into the darkness.

"Show yourself!" Prime Minister desperately tried to locate Batman, still swinging his large, mechanical arms. "Coward!"

"I. Am. Batman!" He jumped at Prime Minister from behind, striking him flush in the back of the knee. The large super suit fell. He had finally found its weakness.

Swinging the pipe like a baseball bat, he took out the suit's good knee. It fell to the concrete with a loud thump. Batman pounced on the opportunity, relentlessly striking the suit with the bar, doing considerable damage with each connection. Batman felt his arms tiring as he continuously mimicked the same motion, but he wouldn't allow himself to let up. The citizens below cheered as they watched Batman persistently pound the man who had so recently coerced them. A well placed connection to the head cracked the bulletproof glass that protected the Prime Minister, hindering his vision.

Becoming more dazed with the impact of each swing, Prime Minister raised his forearms, desperately trying to block the incoming assault. He threw an occasional punch, hoping to get lucky, but Batman dodged every try whilst peppering him with the pipe.

Two guards watched their emperor take blow after blow from the entrance of the roof.

"He's losing!" The first guard yelled, nervously.

"Not for long." The second guard cocked his rifle and stepped out onto the rooftop.

Carefully aiming, he quickly double tapped the trigger sending two bullets spiraling towards his enemy. Batman was heaving the pipe far over his head, preparing to deliver another blow when he felt the searing pain in his right shoulder, quickly followed by the same feeling down in his ribcage. From such close range, the armor piercing rounds easily penetrated his suit. He immediately dropped the pipe, looking across the rooftop, he found the guard still pointing the gun at him; he realized that he had been shot. The pain started to flare after the initial shock faded, he looked down and watched as a steady flow of blood streamed from two holes on the right side of his body. He knew that the wounds weren't fatal, at least not if he was attended to soon….very soon.

The short break in action was all Prime Minster needed to recover from the brutal beating he was taking. He slowly rose to his feet and approached Batman, who was still staring at his wounds; the super suit was still very much responsive.

"Now, Bat, prepare for the most unbearable pain you've ever experienced in your pathetic, little life."

He violently swung at Batman who managed to elude the attempt but wasn't as lucky as he was caught flush with the second and third, knocking him to the ground. The mechanical machine walked over and picked the hero up by the neck. Batman struggled to speak.

"You…still….haven't won….even if you kill me."

"Please, elaborate." He strengthened his grasp on Batman's neck making it harder for him to breathe.

He reached into his belt and pulled out a small device.

"GPS….I called backup." Planting his feet on the machine's chest he kicked away from its tight grip. Flipping in the air, he landed on his feet releasing two exploding batarangs that hit the Prime Minister directly in the chest. The small explosions dazed him for a moment but proved to be yet another glancing blow.

"You just won't give up will you? Don't you get it?" Prime Minister yelled loud for all to hear. "There is no longer anything_ super_ about your friends. They are mere humans, regular, everyday mortals who possess no super powers. Unlike you they lack the intelligence and the discipline that is required to defeat me. You are truly alone, Batman, one of a kind. By killing you I am relieving myself of the only man on earth who could stop me. It will be sad seeing you die…but I'll get over it."

Lifting his arm, he readied his .50 caliber weapon for discharge. Batman watched as he locked onto the logo on his chest. He was beginning to black out from blood loss and unable to move. He closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable death.

In what felt like minutes, Batman thought back to all the people he's affected, all the lives he's saved, all the crooks he's apprehended, but even with all of his success and all of his pain, the lasting thought in his mind was his one and only regret. The refusal to allow anyone to ever get close to him, one person in particular.

Citizens watched dejectedly as Prime Minister discharged his weapon. The sound of the two shots fired echoed through the roof and the streets below, followed immediately by the sound of metal clashing with metal. Batman opened his eyes. His vision was hazy, but he could still vaguely make out the scene in front of him; Wonder Woman stood between him and Prime Minister, who was motionless. He smiled.

"How- I don't- You couldn't-" He stuttered, shocked by what he was seeing.

"Your short reign of power is over."

"You naïve fool, this suit can easily handle one of you." He yelled.

"Let's find out." She violently flew through the air, leading with her fists as she crashed into Prime Minister, knocking him off the side of the building.

She watched as he turned on his jetpack and flew back onto the roof.

"You didn't think that you could get rid of me that easily did you?" He raised his arm and fired four rounds towards her. She easily deflected them all.

"Likewise."

"It looks as if this fight will be won with raw strength. Are you up to the challenge?"

Wonder Woman clenched her fists and charged the steel machine catching it with a right hook and following up with an uppercut. Prime Minister torpedoed into the air, falling with a loud thud that could be heard for blocks.

"My turn." He slowly stood up and regained his balance.

He threw a slow punch that was easily dodged by Wonder Woman. No matter how many he attempted she eluded them all until finally countering and throwing an elbow to the machines bulletproof glass, shattering it completely. She followed up with a barrage of punches to the chest of the machine, doing considerable damage. Finally, she clasped her hands together and threw them at the machine like a wrecking ball sending it dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

She watched as giant machine lay motionless in two feet of snow. Instead of finishing him, she elected to rush over to her fallen friend who was slipping in and out of consciousness.

She ran over and knelt beside him.

"Batman, are you-" She noticed the bullet wounds on his torso. _Hera, help us. _The usually gray part of his armor was now a dark red due to the blood that was still pouring out of the wounds. She ripped his armor off so that she could tend to the fresh wounds. Tearing off a portion of his cape, she wrapped it around his shoulder and tied it as tight to try and stop the bleeding; she did the same for his ribs. "We're going to get you to a hospital, Bruce, hang in there."

"No-" He struggled to speak.

"Bruce, don't fight me on this! You need medical attention now!" She yelled as a tear welled in her eye.

"No…" He pointed behind her.

Prime Minister was back to his feet.

"This ends now." Four miniature missiles rose out of each of the machine's shoulders as he fired them all, exploding as they met Wonder Woman and forcing her into the brick wall that housed the staircase that led to the roof.

He limped towards her, ready to unleash his final attempt. But not before picking Batman up and throwing him towards the edge of the roof. He rolled from the impact with the snow as him momentum took him over the edge. He desperately reached up with his left arm and barely caught the gutter.

Wonder Woman watched in terror as Batman fell over the edge. She tried to get up and save him but was stopped by a large mechanical hand pushing her face into the staircase wall. She struggled to get free but the machine proved to be too strong for her.

"Sorry about your boyfriend." He laughed as he buried her head deeper into the brick. "Don't worry, though, you'll be joining him soon." He pushed her harder into the brick wall.

Batman was holding on for his life as he heard the blood curdling scream. Grabbing what was left of his cape in his teeth, he bit down and attempted to pull himself up, but it was to no avail; he couldn't conjure up the strength, and it was made so slippery by the snow.

Wonder Woman took punch after punch, forcing her deeper into the brick wall. The continuous pelting didn't allow for her to defend herself as she took each punch flush.

Batman listened the rhythmic pounding above him. He knew that Diana was in trouble, he needed to save her, she was the only chance they had left to defeat Prime Minister. He took a deep breath and took another mouthful of his cape. Biting down hard, he used all of the strength he had left in his left arm as he pulled, slowly lifting himself back over the gutter. He grunted and yelled as his torso finally cleared the edge. He leaned forward so that his chest was lying flat on the roof, his legs still dangling over the edge. Taking one last deep breath, he used his core muscles to roll over, carrying his legs back onto the roof with him.

Wonder Woman had to find a way to repel the relentless beating she was taking, but for some reason she felt paralyzed. She had been beaten before but had always seemed to will her way out of it and back into the fight, it was the Amazonian way. Now, though, she felt she lacked the necessary will power to fight and began to accept her defeat.

Prime Minister ceased his punches for a moment, just to show Wonder Woman how he was going to finish off his second Justice Leaguer of the day. He pulled out a large blade from his back. Cradling it in his hands, he traced her face with it.

"Before I finish you I would like to offer you a job. Be my empress, the feats that we could achieve together, the world would truly be ours." He caressed her body with his bulky mechanical hand. "The things I could do to you…" He whispered softly.

She spit in his face.

"Burn with Had-"

The force of his hand pushing her face back into the bricks cut her off.

"Wrong answer." He brought the blade back and prepared to thrust it into her midsection.

"NO!"

The desperate yell distracted Prime Minister as he glanced behind him seeing Batman in midair, jumping onto the machine's head and throwing it off balance. Prime Minister lost his grasp of Wonder Woman's neck as she fell to her knees gasping for air. He furiously tried to knock Batman off. Seeing that he freed Wonder Woman from Prime Minister's hold, he released his grip as Prime Minister threw him across the rooftop. He landed in a heap, but stood up just in time to see Prime Minister discharge the smaller of his two guns. The 9mm bullet spiraled into his chest, hitting Batman in the middle of his logo. He dropped to his knees, then fell to his face.

The snow started to fall even harder as Prime Minister stared at the motionless hero, almost forgetting about the stronger one who was loose again, and angrier than ever. Before he could turn to see where she was he felt a fist crash through the back of his super suit. He turned as Wonder Woman picked him up and threw him against the same wall he had her pinned up against moments before. Without saying anything, and with a slight tear in her eye, she whaled away throwing punches harder than she ever had, connecting with all of them, shaking the building's foundation every time.

It didn't take long before the super suit was diminished to nothing but scrap metal and a small, bruised man lay in the fetal position in the cold snow. Wonder Woman picked him up by his collar and walked over to the edge of the building, dangling him over the street two hundred feet below. The rain became steadier with each passing minute.

"I should drop you, and let you rot with Hades for eternity." She looked over to her fallen teammate. "But I won't, because it's not what he would've wanted." She brought the small man close to her and delivered a massive head-butt, knocking him out immediately.

Dropping Prime Minister to the ground, she hurried over to Batman who she prayed was still living.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 28**

**Frontline, Washington**

Sensing the dread and hopelessness of the soldiers behind him, Lieutenant Price turned and attempted to rally his troops once again.

"This is the moment! This is what your grandchildren will read about in their history books. Today," He yelled, "We fight for freedom, like our ancestors before us, for the freedom of this nation!"

The short speech gave the troops a jolt of energy which was quickly diminished after the first shot was fired. An explosive the size of a cannonball came careening into the frontline, taking at least thirty soldiers with it. Pandemonium ensued. The U.N. army quickly forgot their relentless training as they attacked the enemy, weapons hot, but were turned away handedly.

Lieutenant Price watched what he believed to be the beginning of the end of his great nation. Soldiers fell in every direction, the army's numbers were diminishing quickly and the enemy was still hundreds of yards away. There truly was nobody who could stop these god-like machines.

"Look! Oh my God, look!"

"We're saved, I can't believe it!"

The battle momentarily paused as both sides looked up to the sky, with very different reactions. Superman and Martian Manhunter touched down beside Lieutenant Price, Flash arrived moments later. The U.N. army erupted in joy, overwhelmed with a new sense of hope. The three heroes intercepted all of the soldiers in danger and returned them to the front.

Price took advantage of the adrenaline rush flowing through his soldiers. "Everyone back in position." He yelled. "We do this right this time!" Price's soldiers fell back into formation, other companies followed suit.

"Let's start over, shall we?" Flash said.

"Hold this line!" Superman shouted, flying up and down the line, reminiscent of General George Washington during the American Revolution. "We only move forward! Nobody, nothing gets through this line!"

The army cheered in agreement.

"Heads up, Supes!"

Superman turned as an explosive cannon flew hi way. He caught it with both hands, then spinning to gain momentum, heaved back towards the super soldiers, like shot put. Ten super suits were sent strewn across the forest floor.

"Return to sender." Flash commentated.

Superman looked back to his army. "Get to the trees, this ends here!"

The soldiers listened to the alien, taking their positions in the forest, perfectly camouflaged by the snow and roughage.

Major Martin, leader of the super soldiers, watched as the enemy tried to hide form them in the brush of the forest.

"That may have worked two centuries ago, but it won't work today." He looked back to his army. "March onward. Burn the forest down, we'll see how well they can hide in an open field."

The super soldiers followed orders, using their flamethrowers to burn anything that would catch.

Lieutenant Price stood beside Superman as they watched Hell unfold before their eyes. "What do we do? We don't have a chance without that forest!"

"Initiate the bombardment, we'll take care of the fires."

Price nodded, then spoke into the radio that sat on his shoulder. "Call in the air strike, fire the cannons, send in the tanks, now!"

Moments later the thunderous explosions deafened the snowy forest. The shelling barely slowed the super army down; none of their weapons could damage the impeccably built machines.

Superman watched as the U.N. hurled everything they had at the super army that was closing in fast, lighting up the forest in flames on their way. In the air, six fighter jets circled above the battlefield. Twelve missiles were fired towards the enemy, connecting dead on, yet only temporarily knocking a few super soldiers off their feet. It became clear to Superman that there was no weapon aside from a nuclear bomb that could stop this powerful army.

"Looks like this is up to us." J'onn said, arriving by his side.

Superman and Flash nodded.

"This won't be as easy as it usually is, boys." Superman said, "Keep your mind sharp and your head on a swivel. Good luck"

The three heroes split up, each taking on roughly one third of the super army. Superman flew up the center like a wrecking ball, Flash worked his way down the left flank, and J'onn on the right.

Major Martin sneered as he watched the three leaguers finally engage in battle.

"Richard! Bring the radio." He yelled to his officer, who promptly complied. He grabbed the small, black device and started barking orders. "Soldier 592, Jester is streaking up the right, take care of him. Soldier 977, ghost is staying to the left, take him out." He quickly looked up to see Superman inflicting critical damage up the middle of the battlefield. "Leave Big Blue to me."

"Copy that."

Staying clear of the fire, J'onn unleashed considerable damage to his third of the super army. Phasing into ghost form, he reached into each suit, pulling out its power source and crushing it in his hand, rendering the suit useless. It was tedious but affective. Soldier 977 watched the Martian wreak havoc on his army. J'onn was too focused to notice soldier 977 jump him from behind. J'onn turned at the last second, just in time to see the enemy pull out a large metal staff.

With no time to react J'onn took the blow directly to the chest as the staff sent an electromagnetic pulse trough his body, which proved to be destructive to his anatomy. The pulse temporarily paralyzed him, just long enough for soldier 977 to slap a color around his neck that sent a continuous pulse through his body, rendering him incapacitated.

Success proved to be more difficult for the Flash, who wasn't blessed with the same strength as Superman or J'onn. He got the job done nonetheless. Although the snowy forest wasn't the best venue for a speedster, the bulky machines proved to be much too slow. Soldier 592 watched him rip through the battlefield, dodging punch after punch, allowing the machines to do more damage to themselves than he could ever inflict. He would suffer the same fate as his friend.

Superman had little trouble defeating the new machines, granted they weren't the easiest of combatants that he'd come up against, but they were, by no means, as powerful as Darkseid, Braniac, or even Mongul. He used his entire arsenal to fend off the super army as quickly as he could: heat vision, super breath, brute strength. The machines proved to be no match.

Soldier 592 switched his primary weapon to the water cannon and aimed towards the Flash, who was still toying with the super suits. Soldier 592 fired the cannon at the Flash, turning all the snow around him into solid ice. The unsuspecting speedster ran right on top of the slippery ice, losing his footing and crashing into a nearby evergreen.

Vision fuzzy, he reached inside of his mask pulling out a hand that was as red as his armor; _that's a lot of blood. _He could feel himself slipping out of consciousness but tried his hardest to fight it off. Looking up, he saw a figure through the falling snow approaching, it was a super suit coming to finish him off, most likely. The figure stopped ten feet away. The hatch on the machine opened and a man climbed out. Flash could barely make out a face, but he knew that he did not recognize this man—he was just a soldier, fulfilling orders.

Superman's mountain of decommissioned super soldiers was growing by the second. Major Martin, equipped in his own super suit, knew that head on combat with the Kryptonian would be a losing battle, even with his… modification. Instead he planned on exploiting Superman's true weakness.

He looked over to the U.N. army, they had been watching the leaguers beat his army and finally felt strong enough to engage in the battle again. _Mistake. _Martin planted his feet next to a towering evergreen. Grabbing the trunk, he used all his suit's strength to uproot the enormous tree and heave it towards the U.N. army. The soldiers scattered as the tree landed in the middle of their camp. Martin repeated the process until he got his desired result.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Superman glanced over to see six trees barreling towards his defenseless army. He quickly threw down the super soldier that he had clutched in his fist and flew over to the trees. It only took seconds to get all of the soldiers to safety, but that's all Major Martin needed. He flew up behind Superman and, using all of the suits strength, once again, he delivered a devastating blow to back of the Man of Steel.

The connection was so massive that Superman's contact with the frozen ground created a crater six feet deep. It took him only moments to slowly crawl out, only to find Major Martin standing in front of him. Gathering his strength, he threw a right hook straight to the chest of the machine.

"Ahhhh!" Superman screamed in agony, quizzically staring at his broken hand.

Major Martin removed his chest plate, revealing a glowing green rock, the size of a fingernail.

"Krypto-" Superman fell to his knees. Martin smiled devilishly as the U.N. army watched in terror as their greatest warrior fell.

The man approaching Flash reached into his jacket. Flash couldn't see what he came out with but he knew it was a pistol. The man stopped two feet in front of Flash and pointed the gun at his chest.

"Dude…why?" He tried to stall, too weak to vibrate through a bullet.

"Shut up!" The man shouted.

"I feel like I have the right to know, you're going to shoot me anyway."

"I said shut up!" He pointed the muzzle lower and pulled the trigger, putting a bullet in Flash's right thigh.

Flash screamed in pain, but the battle was so loud, nobody heard.

"You heroes walk around and police the world like gods. You have no right! You don't care about the less fortunate, the non-gifted."

"We do this for you!"

"You bully us! Treat us like we're nothing but a liability, weak specimens who can't protect themselves."

Flash began to argue but all he could focus on was the blood gushing out of his leg. _He must've just missed the artery. _

"Prime Minister is purging the world of you self-proclaimed gods, and letting man rule once again."

"You think this guy doesn't have bigger plans?" Flash struggled. "You think he's just going to give up all that power, and let others take their fair share? He's trying to create the Fourth Reich!"

"That's enough!" The man screamed. "You're treason ends now." He lifted the pistol head high.

"Think again, fool!" John Stewart, the Green Lantern, knocked the man to the ground, placing bright green handcuffs around his wrists.

"GL?" Flash muttered.

John ignored him. "Damn, that thing is deep. Luckily, it looks to only be a flesh wound."

"Oh if that's all." Flash tried to joke.

"Shut up, man, I need to concentrate." He knelt down and made bright green tweezers. "This is probably gonna hurt." He carefully lowered the tweezers into Flash's leg, grasping the bullet and slowly began to pull it out.

Flash grinded his teeth. "Wow, that's painful."

"It's just about out, one more pull."

Flash nodded and braced himself by grabbing a couple of roots beside him.

"One, two, _three. _John pulled the bullet completely out of Flash's flesh and held it up for him to see.

"Only a .22? Couldn't have hurt that bad."

"Oh, now you're the jokester?"

John laughed. "You want the souvenir?"

Superman lay in agony as he unwillingly watched the super soldiers round up the U.N. army, taking their first prisoners of war.

"Any weapons should be turned over immediately should you want to live." Major Martin addressed his new captives. "You should consider yourselves lucky, you get to choose the fate of your country. If you are subordinate and cooperative we will go easy on the ones you love. But should you choose a prideful death, your friends and families will surely suffer."

Superman relentlessly tried to break free of the chains that bound him, but the small fragment of kryptonite that was taped to his chest proved to rob him of all his strength. Instead, he was forced to watch what seemed like the beginning of a new world order. If they could take him, Flash, and J'onn down as they had, then there may be no stopping this superpower.

_NO! _Batman is still out there. He and Wonder Woman are taking the fight directly to the source. They're the strongest the League has to offer, as long as they're still alive the world has hope. He didn't allow himself to think of the possibility that they may already be defeated. Instead he focused on how to get this piece of kryptonite off of his chest.

Looking to the sky, he realized that it may be easier than he had thought. He looked directly into the falling snow and saw the silhouette of a large bird. A hawk.

"RRRRRAAHHHHH." Hawkgirl let out a ferocious battle cry as she swooped down from the sky, swinging her destructive mace.

Major Martin turned just as she was in mid swing, allowing her to make full contact with suit's chest. It was a devastating blow. Martin tumbled backward in a heap on the frozen tundra.

The attack on their leader sprung an immediate retaliation from his army. Dozens of super soldiers swarmed Hawkgirl and, without pausing, leaped at her in a synchronized ambush. She smiled, bracing herself, but was disappointed when the green energy shield protected her form the attack.

"How 'bout we even up the odds?"

"Lantern!" Superman shouted.

John shot the splinter of green rock well away from Superman, who broke the chains like they were made of bamboo. Superman, in turn, rushed to J'onn who lay unconscious in the snow hundreds of yards away. He ripped the collar off and allowed J'onn to catch his bearings.

"Ready for the fight of a lifetime?"

"I am."

The four heroes lined up against the hundreds of super suits that were left.

"You have one chance to surrender." John shouted. "Otherwise, brace yourselves."

There was no sign of submission from the army, who truly were an arrogant bunch.

"They always choose the hard way." John said.

"Good, I prefer the hard way." Hawgirl, readied her mace.

"I know you do."

"On three." Superman shouted. "Together."

They counted in unison. "One. Two. Three."

**Chapter 29**

**Montreal**

"Bruce!" Wonder Woman kneeled down and lifted his head up.

He was unresponsive.

"Bruce, please wake up." Tears flowed from her eyes onto his chest. She brought his head to hers, removing his cowl to reveal his face, his true flesh.

The snow began to fall harder as she heard thunder in the distance. She wiped the water off of Bruce's face and leaned in to kiss him. She kissed him for a long time, finally pulling away and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Kaff, kaff. Nobody takes off Batman's mask, Diana."

Wonder Woman lifted her head in disbelief as Batman began to regain consciousness.

_It couldn't have been. There's no way. This isn't-_

"It wasn't the kiss." Batman said, reading her mind. "Although it did help." He tried to smile. Pointing to the bullet hole in his chest. "Kevlar."

"But I ripped off your armor, why would you-"

"You can never be too sure." He lifted his thermal shirt revealing a large Kevlar plate encompassing his chest.

She hugged him hard, forgetting that he was still nursing two other wounds. He groaned, but accepted it.

"Let's get you to the nearest hospital." She wiped away the tears from her eyes.

He shook his head.

"We have to destroy the main circuit first…the power source of all the super suits."

"Can't it wait?" She pleaded.

He shook his head again.

"If we don't, there will be more casualties than just me."

Diana pretended to not hear the last part of the sentence as she put his good arm over her shoulders and helped him up.

"Where is it, let's do this fast."

"We're standing on it…it's under the building." He coughed up blood and started to lose consciousness again.

"So how do we destroy it?"

"There are two ways." He struggled. "One, you can help me down to the main computer and I can hack it using the main computer interface, taking control of all the super suits."

"You're in no shape to do that. What's option two?"

"We set explosives to the foundation of the building, allowing the building to collapse onto itself, destroying the entire power source for good." He barely got the sentence out.

"Imploding the building?" She said uneasily, "How many casualties?"

"None if you do it right and get us out of here in time."

"Okay, I vote for option two." She said sternly. "How do I get it done?"

Batman tried to smile, knowing that had he been in good health he would have taken choice one, but Wonder Woman had a different philosophy.

"My utility belt."

She reached into his belt and found what he was talking about.

"That's a decent amount of explosives, but to take down a building this big you'll have to place them strategically around the foundation….around pillars and support beams."

Diana squeezed the small objects in her fist.

"Consider it done. I'll be back shortly, stay awake!" She ordered.

She walked into the center of the roof, then, spinning as fast as she can, like a drill, she dug all the way down to the foundation of the building; a trick she learned from Superman.

The basement of the building was dark and empty. Several support beams were lined up in three rows. With only six explosives, she decided to take out the beams in the middle, forcing the building would collapse into itself. She quickly placed all of the explosives on a separate beam in the middle row. Knowing that she was quick enough to fly out of a collapsing building, she set each timer for fifteen seconds; by the time she was setting the final explosives, the first few will have already gone off. With limited time she quickly started setting the explosives. While she was setting the fourth explosive, the first one had gone off, quickly followed by the second and third. She was in the midst of setting the fifth when Batman reached her on her commLink.

"Diana, it's not working, the explosives aren't powerful enough. You have to find another way."

Stressed, Wonder Woman searched the room for anything that would expedite the destruction of the building, finally stopping when she found the boiler. _That's it._ She rushed over to the bulky black tank and placed her two remaining explosives directly onto it, setting them both for fifteen seconds. Her exit was tougher than she had anticipated; due to all of the damage already done, the building was already falling apart and she had to avoid falling debris the entire way up to the roof.

The last thing that Batman remembered before losing consciousness was the sound of a large explosion, much bigger than anything he gave Diana. She must've improvised, using something ultra-flammable to create a larger and more destructive explosion. _Atta girl._

By the time Wonder Woman made it back to the roof Batman had slipped back out of consciousness. She grabbed him tightly, holding him close to her body, and stoically flew off into the night sky. Seconds later the explosion from the boiler immersed the entire building in flames and it slowly collapsed from within.

The four leaguers charged the super army which didn't back down. Within feet of delivering one of his most massive punches, Superman felt a slight electromagnetic wave flow through the battlefield.

"Wait!" He yelled.

Hawkgirl almost pulled a muscle stopping her mace which was in mid swing. "What!?"

The battle is over." J'onn interjected, apparently also feeling the wave.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Superman approached the closest machine. "These super suits, aren't so super anymore." He flicked the machine over and watched as the man inside struggled to make it stand.

"Batman and Wonder Woman must've succeeded! The suits have no power, they're useless."

The next hour was spent rounding up the operators of the super suits and handing them over to the U.N.

"What should we do with them?" Lieutenant Price asked Superman.

"Bring them to stand trial at the U.N.—then let the U.N. decide the fate of these war criminals along with their leader. We are not the judge, nor should we be."

"Thank you, soldier." Price smiled, sticking out his hand.

Superman grabbed and shook it firmly. "Thank _you, _Lieutenant."

Price watched as the five leaguers continued to clean the battlefield and help the fallen and the injured, giving them hope to live, to continue fighting for what they believe in. They're not gods, he thought, they're angels.

**Canadian Hospital (Ottawa), 30 Minutes Later**

Little Jimmy was always told by his parents that it wasn't polite to stare, but tonight he just couldn't help it. As he sat in the hospital's lobby, waiting for his new baby sister to arrive, when Wonder Woman walked in and sat down in the chair right next to him. They were basically touching. _Wait 'til I tell everyone at school!_

As he stared he noticed something wrong. She wasn't happy, or at least she didn't look happy. As a curious second- grader, he naturally asked the beautiful woman what was wrong.

"Excuse me, Miss Wonder Woman." He said poking her in the arm. She was startled, not even realizing that there was anyone sitting next to her. "You look sad. What's the matter?"

She looked down to the little, red -haired boy.

"That's because I am sad. One of my friends was hurt very badly and now the doctors need to see if they can fix him."

The boy's eyes widened.

"Was it the Flash?"

She shook her head, resulting in a sigh of relief from the little boy.

"He's my favorite." He pulled his Flash action figure from his backpack to show her.

Wonder Woman almost smiled. The little boy was a symbol of why they do what they do, why Bruce di- does what he does—he was so innocent.

"Well then who is it?"

"It's Batman."

Little Jimmy hid behind his Flash doll.

"He's mean, isn't he?"

"Why do you say that?"

"He doesn't smile."

She let out a small chuckle, realizing the truth in the boy's statement.

"Well he can be a little grumpy now and again, but he's not mean. In fact, he's got a bigger heart than all of us, he just doesn't let anyone know."

"Then how do you know."

Wonder Woman thought for a moment.

"I can see through his mask, I know who he really is."

"I don't think he would like that."

The little boy finally got her to laugh as she realized that she shouldn't use such complicated metaphors when speaking to a seven year old child.

"What I meant was that I know his real personality; he's actually very sweet. But don't tell him I said that."

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't want anyone to know; so you'll have to keep that a secret."

"Okay, Miss Wonder Woman." He liked the idea of having a secret with a member of the Justice League. "I'm going to take a nap, hopefully when I wake up I'll have a baby sister!" He laid his head on her arm, making himself comfortable, as he slowly fell asleep, Flash doll in arm.

Wonder Woman felt awkward at first, she didn't have a lot of experience with kids. But she liked this one, so she lifted her arm, letting his head fall into her lap as she anxiously awaited the doctor.

**One Hour Later**

Wonder Woman almost allowed herself to nod off until she heard the footsteps out in the corridor, waking her up as if she just drank a triple espresso. The white double doors of the ER flew open as a dark man in a long white coat stepped into the room. She held Little Jimmy's head as she stood up, placing it gently back on the seat.

"Well?" She asked eagerly.

"He still hasn't woken up, but we think he's going to be okay."

"You think?" She asked uneasily.

"He suffered a severe concussion, multiple gun shots, a bruised sternum, broken ribs, and he lost a considerable amount of blood. He's physically beat, he's got nothing left in the tank. Right now he's living on sheer will alone. Give him a few days here, let him rest, let him recover at his own pace. Here in Canada there's no charge to patients for hospital visits, so money's not an issue."

"It wouldn't have been an issue anyway." She said under her breath. "Can I stay with him?"

"Absolutely." The doctor smiled as he led her back through the double doors and into the long narrow corridor.

Diana sat over Bruce, holding his hand as she waited for him to finally wake up. She had forced them to leave his mask on; if she hadn't Bruce wouldn't let her forget it. He looked pale from all of the blood that he lost, there was a needle in his elbow trying its hardest to replenish his body with the necessary fluids.

"Diana." She heard Superman's voice in her ear, through the com-link. "How is he?"

She stood up from her seat and walked over to the window, keeping her voice down.

"He still hasn't woken up. He suffered a severe concussion and a considerable amount of damage, the doctor said that it may take some time for him to fully recover."

"Did he give a timetable?"

"No, he said it could be a few weeks, a few months, a year; it's different for everyone."

The line stayed quiet for a long moment, Batman's condition affected the entire league; none of its members were accustomed to him in such a state, forgetful of his mortality at times. But it was felt most by Wonder Woman and Superman.

"If there's anyone who can beat the odds it's Bruce. Hang in there Diana, I know this is tough on you, just be strong. Superman out."

Diana solemnly stared out the window overlooking the picturesque Canadian Capital. The snow had finally stopped falling. As its citizens popped their heads out of their houses, they realized that the storm was over, and they resumed life as usual.

**Chapter 30**

**Gotham Cemetery, February 4****th**** 9:44am**

The chilling wind blew hard forcing the steady snow to fall horizontally. It was nothing compared to the last storm, Bruce thought. He stood in the blizzard, by himself, looking down at his parent's tombstone as he did every February 4th. He dug his bare hands deep down into the pockets of his wool overcoat and tried to duck his ears under the large collar.

Not wanting to keep Alfred waiting in the car too long, he knelt down beside the grave and said a small prayer. Shoveling the snow away to the side, he placed two red roses on the grave. The contrast between the white snow and the dark red roses was truly beautiful. Before leaving he stood above the grave and thought. The setting proved to be a fantastic place for meditation, he found that out years ago, and he never liked to leave until he spent a few minutes in deep thought.

This year, though, something was different. Usually he thought about his parents, how his life would've been should they have never been killed. Would he be happier? Would Gotham still be a slum or did his parents have that much effect on the city? Would he be the same man? Would Batman have ever been needed? Those were the usual questions he pondered while standing at the top of the hill, but today, instead of thinking about his past, he found himself thinking of his future.

The new questions that filled his head were: Will I ever be happy? Will I ever allow myself to be? Have I lost my chance? Should I tell her how I feel? Does she already know?

The unanswered questions flooded his brain as he shook his head trying to bring himself back together. Then, suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and watched as the two roses he left for his parents doubled to four.

"How'd you find out?"

"I think some of your detective skills have been rubbing off on me these past few days."

He looked at her earnestly.

She realized that this was no place to joke with him.

"Clark told me."

"I never could trust him."

"You should've told me."

"I couldn't-"

"You couldn't what, Bruce? Open up, let someone in? Did you ever think that maybe if you told anyone about all the things that go on in your head, instead of hoarding them all inside, you may feel better about yourself?"

Bruce stared into the snowy abyss.

"Do you even want to feel happy, or are you just so used to being miserable that you enjoy feeling bad for yourself now?"

Diana's words stung Bruce worse than the frigid wind did to his ears. She realized it and took a softer tone.

"Bruce." She looked him straight in his icy blue eyes. "You can't keep living like this, the closest relationship you've had with anyone in your life is with your butler; what happens when he's gone?"

Bruce didn't want to think about that, Alfred was like his surrogate father.

"You don't understand, I-"

"No, Bruce, I don't. I cannot imagine what it must've felt like that night, what it feels like every night, every time you're reminded of it. But you can't live cold and alone because of something that happened decades ago. It's not fair to you…and whoever is missing out on the chance of being with you."

Picking his head up, Bruce met Diana's stare.

"I promised them."

"I'm not asking you to break that promise, I'm asking you to let somebody, me, help you fulfill it." She took her hand out of the pocket of her pea coat and offered it to Bruce, never breaking her stare.

Bruce gazed at her small hand for a long moment. The icy snow pelted the side of his face, rendering it numb, but he wouldn't have been able to feel even if it was eighty degrees out. He knew what he wanted to do, he just wasn't sure if it was what he should do.

Diana's hand began trembling as she kept it held out in midair. A tear began to well in her eye after a minute went by without a response. She withdrew her offer and began to put her frozen hand back in her pocket when Bruce finally made his decision. He reached over and took her hand in his, bringing her in for a long hug. Although the thermometer said that it was under twenty degrees, Bruce and Diana felt as warm as they had in years.

"C'mon, let's go home." He said, taking one last glance at his parents' grave.

Diana took his good arm in hers and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked through the falling snow and back to the car.

"So how long did the doctor tell you to keep that thing on for?" She pointed to his right shoulder which was still in a sling.

"Six more weeks, I believe."

"Any chance it'll stay on for that long?"

"None whatsoever."

**Epilogue**

**Key West, Florida**

**February 27****th**

The everyday patrons of the bar, which looked out over the Atlantic, couldn't believe who they were seeing. Did he really just walk in? His watch was worth more than most of the men who frequented the establishment.

A young waitress, blonde hair, realized who he was and tried to make her best impression. "Good evening, sir. Can I help you with anything?"

"No." The man said, coldly. "I know exactly who I'm looking for."

Everyone watched as he threaded through the tables and made his way to the far back corner of the dark room. He slid into a booth across from a bearded man, the only one who hadn't glanced at him yet.

"Help you?" The man asked, his gaze out the window. He was wearing a dirty Cubs hat and looked as if he hadn't showered in days.

"Actually you can." The wealthy man said. "You see, I'm a big fan of your work."

"Sorry, I'm retired."

"Of course you are." The mysterious man laughed. "I'll make it worth your while." He pulled out a pen and wrote a seven figure digit on a napkin, preceded by a dollar sign and slid it across the table. "That's just to get started."

"You serious?"

"Completely. What do you say, Dr. Proctor?"

The doctor nodded.

"I look forward to doing business with you, Mr. Luthor."


End file.
